Who Is Lugh, and What's Logi Got to Do With It?

I created a slight neoPagan controversy when I posted a link to "The Loki in Lughnasa," a post I wrote in 2012, on Tumblr. That post relied heavily on Barbara J. Walker's The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, a source I have learned is highly questionable. Since August 1st, I learned that:

- The Celtic god Lugh (sometimes spelled without the "h") is not a fire god.

- The association between the Norse god Loki and the Norse fire giant Logi is an error.

- No solid evidence links Loki in Norse mythology to Lugh in Celtic mythology.

So, who is Lugh? What is he the Celtic god of? Who is Logi? And who confused Logi with Loki? We'll look at each of these questions in turn.

Lugh

In my very first Lughnasadh post, written in 2010 when I was still fairly new to blogging, I wrote:

"The Irish consider it the feast of the god Lugh, who consecrated it in honor of his foster-mother's death. Lugh's foster-mother Tailtiu, "The Great One of the Earth," represents the land of Ireland itself. Thus, her death is symbolic of the harvest: the crops sacrifice themselves so human beings and animals can live. Tailtiu's death was celebrated with feasting, Olympic-style games, bonfires and handfasting ceremonies. Where corn is harvested, the goddess is often visually represented by making corn dolls."

Contemporary corn doll depicting Lugh. Creative Commons image by MountainAsh333

Unfortunately, I didn't happen to note the source of that information. I did better in 2013's Mabon post, when I referred to Lugh's article at Encyclopedia Mythica. It says:

"Lugh is the Celtic lord of every skill. He was patron of Lugodunum (Lyons) in Gaul. He and his nature goddess consort (Rosmerta) were worshipped during the 30 day Lugnasad midsummer feast in Ireland. Fertility magic during this festival ensured ripening of the crops and good harvest. He was called Lamfhada or 'of the long arm' in Gaelic because of his great spear and sling. His animal attributes were the raven and the lynx. Lugh mirrors Hindu Karttikeya, the spiritual warrior, and Roman Mercury, the swift messenger. His exploits are recounted in the Tain Bo Cuailnge, the Cattle-raid of Cooley." - Dave Buchert

So Lugh is a skilled warrior, a swift messenger, and a fertility god. Well, that's minimally informative. Wikipedia is user-generated, and therefore not the most reliable source, but it tells us that:

- Lugh's Welsh counterpart is Lleu Llaw Gyffes. As you may recall from this post, Lleu Llaw Gyffes was the son of the goddess Arianrhod. She cursed him never to marry an earthly woman, so instead he married the unearthly Bloddeuwedd, made from nine different flowers.

- His father, Cian, is of the Tuatha Dé Danann, or "tribe of the goddess Danu." His mother, Ethniu, belongs to the Fomorians, the mythical people who were said to have inhabited Ireland before the Celtic people got there.

- Lugh was given to a foster mother, Queen Tailtiu, to raise, possibly because of a prophecy that his maternal grandfather would be killed by his grandson. Lugh's grandfather Balor was said to have a poisonous eye that killed everyone he looked on it with.

Cú Chulainn by J.C. Leyendecker. Public domain. 

- The king of the Tuatha Dé Danann appointed Lugh to his court because he had so many different skills. The Tuatha Dé Danann are being oppressed by the Fomorians, and Lugh agrees to help the Tuatha Dé Danann regain their freedom.

- In a battle against the Fomorians, Lugh uses a slingshot to shoot out his grandfather Balor's evil eye, causing the Fomorians to lose the battle.

- During the battle, Lugh spares the life of Bres, a former king who agrees to teach the Tuatha Dé Danann the secrets of agriculture. However, Lugh ultimately killed Bres by causing him to drink the poisonous "milk" of 300 wooden cows Lugh had made.

- Later in his life, Lugh instituted the Olympic-style games in memory of his foster mother. August 1 was the conclusion of the games.

- Lugh had several wives, including the daughter of a British king. One of his wives had an affair with Cermait, son of the Irish father-god The Dagda. Lugh killed Cermait, but then Cermait's three sons killed Lugh.

- In some versions, Lugh is the father of the Irish hero Cú Chulainn. When Cú Chulainn is severely wounded in battle, Lugh arrives and heals his wounds.

Mythography says the confusion of Lugh with a deity of the sun may have to do with his nickname, "Shining One." However, the nickname was probably in reference to all his various skills. It also says Lugh ascended to become the leader of Tuatha Dé Danann when the god Nuada was killed in battle.

So that's Lugh - a mythological figure who may have been based on a historical king, but was said to have belonged to the divine tribe of the goddess Danu.

Public domain image by John McColgan.

Logi

Wikipedia says that Logi means "fire" in Old Norse and that the mythological Logi was a fire giant. It says the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturlson describes the eating contest between Logi and Loki. They competed to see who could most quickly eat meat from the bones, and Logi won by consuming meat, bones, and trencher all alike. Not only was Logi a fire giant, he was also the personification of fire itself.

Logi has two brothers, one who rules over the winds and another who rules over the sea. In astronomy, Loge (an alternate spelling) is one of the moons of Saturn.

NorthernPaganism.org adds that Logi was called High-Logi because he was so tall. His wife was named Glow, and they had two daughters named Ashes and Embers. After the death of his wife and daughters, Logi lived alone in a black-rock cave in Muspellheim (the land of fire).

So it seems unlikely Logi has anything at all to do with Lugh. Lugh has an association with blacksmiths, who do use fire, but that has more to do with Lugh's many skills than it does to any elemental connection Lugh might have.

Loki and Sigyn in a painting by Mårten Eskil Winge. Public domain.

The Confusion of Logi With Loki

According to NorseMyth.org,Wagner named a character in the Ring opera cycle Loge and gave him the characteristics of the mythological Loki. Wagner's Loge is a fire sprite.

Wikipedia's Loki article says Jacob Grimm referred to Loki as a "fire god" in 1835. It also says:

"Famously, Loki appears in Richard Wagner's opera cycle Ring of the Nibelung as Loge (a play on Old Norse loge, 'fire'). He is depicted as an ally of the gods (specifically Wotan's assistant rather than Donner's), although he generally dislikes them and thinks of them as greedy, as they refuse to return the Rhine Gold to its rightful owners. In the conclusion of the first opera Das Rheingold he reveals his hope to turn into fire and destroy Valhalla, and in the final opera Götterdämmerung, Valhalla is set alight, destroying the Gods."

Wagner completed Das Rheingold in 1856, post-Grimm. Collin Cleary's essay "Wagner's Place in the Germanic Tradition" clearly points the finger at Grimm as the source of the confusion between Logi and Loki:

"The Grimms often made imaginative links between names and other elements in the sources they utilized, and this seems to have emboldened Wagner to do the same – achieving a kind of fusion of German and Scandinavian elements. Indeed, some of the inferences or connections Wagner has been criticized for actually have their origin with the Grimms. For example, Wagner also includes a character named 'Loge,' who is the equivalent of the Scandinavian Loki. In fact, there is scant evidence that there was a Loki figure in the German mythological world. However, Jacob Grimm postulated 'Locho' or 'Loho' as possible German equivalents. Wagner didn’t particularly like either, and settled on 'Loge.'

"Purists have long railed against Wagner, however, for making his Loge/Loki a god of fire. Again, however, this has its origin in Grimm. In Scandinavian myth there was a fire giant named Logi, and Grimm thought that there might be a connection to Loki. (More recent scholarship doesn’t support this.) We find the origin of Wagner’s Loge in these words of Jacob Grimm: 'Now a striking narrative . . . places Logi by the side of Loki: a being from the giant province beside a kinsman and companion of the gods. This is no mere play upon words, the two really signify the same thing from different points of view, Logi the natural force of fire, and Loki with a shifting of the sound, a shifting of the sense: of the burly giant has been made a sly, seducing villain.'"

The Brother Grimm. Public domain. 

There we have it: Lugh is not Logi, Logi is not Loki, and Loki is definitely not Lugh.

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A Lughnasadh Lesson Learned

Yesterday was August 1. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the neoPagan community celebrated the cross-quarter holiday of Lughnasadh. The halfway point between Summer Solstice and the Autumnal Equinox is named for an ancient Celtic celebration of the god Lugh. The Christianized name for this holiday is Lammas, a contraction of "loaf mass," because this grain harvest festival retains the tradition of celebrating with breads and other baked goodies.

At Lughnasadh 2012, I wrote a blog post called "The Loki in Lughnasadh." Yesterday I shared the link on Tumblr, thinking a few neoPagans and Wiccans might be interested. I don't know if you're aware of this, but Loki is pretty popular on Tumblr, as are all things related to The Avengers, the movie.

The little blurb I added to my Tumblr link said:

"Barbara G. Walker notes that Loki was sometimes identified as “Logi,” or “flame.” She associates Loki-as-Logi with Lug (or Lugh), the Celtic god of fire, who was celebrated at Lughnasa/Lughnasadh (Lug’s games) on August 1st."

The response I got was enlightening. Tumblr user Answers From Vanaheim commented:

"Oh no, nonononono Barbara Walker is a terrible source for anything that isn’t about knitting.

"Loki and Logi are separate entities. Loki even competes against Logi in an eating contest (and loses because Logi, being a fire giant, eats his plate as well as the food). Someone (I believe it was Wagner) confused the two, and the association of Loki with fire persists."

Now, I am a humble witch/neoPagan/writer/person and I know I can always learn more from people wiser than myself. I take these comments with my listening ears on, because here I've encountered a new bit of knowledge: that Barbara G. Walker, who's been my go-to reference for years, might be a questionable authority.

I first encountered Walker when, as a student at St. Mary's College of Notre Dame, Indiana, I stumbled upon her Feminist Fairy Tales. I don't remember how I first found The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, but by the time I did, I already had it in my mind that Walker was a feminist scholar. The Encyclopedia is heavily footnoted, but because it was originally written in the early 1980s (when I was a small child), I didn't have access to many of the sources Walker cites in her footnotes.

Goodreads

Let's look at some of the other notes I got from Tumblr users yesterday. Tylluan Faolchú-Gealach, building on what Answers From Vanaheim wrote, said:

"Not to mention that Lugh isn’t a fire god - also a very persistent misconception. When I read that first bit I got mad, Lugh is very dear to me, and no disrespect to Loki intended; but they are two worlds apart. You cannot just toss them on the same pile."

Elder Scrolls Witch says simply, "This causes me physical pain." Well, I do apologize for that, sir. I never meant for my ignorance to cause physical pain.

Gaelic Heathenry writes, "Good heavens! Did she really just equate Loki and Lugh? What?" with the following notes:  #This is painful #Holy different pantheons Batman! #They're not even vaguely similar

#Sorry #I was wrong #My source is controversial #I'm learning

Korrigan adds, "That might be the highest sentence-length-to-false-information ratio I’ve ever seen someone stab my eyes out with the gae assail."

Hyperbole is as common on Tumblr as that photo of Jensen Ackles in gym shorts. The Gáe Assail is Lugh's lightning spear, by the way.

Wikimedia Commons 

About the above image, Wikimedia Commons says, "Illustration of Lugh's magic spear by H.R.Millar, published in Celtic Myth and Legend by Charles Squire (1905), and scanned and made available online at sacred-texts.com, according to whom it is in the public domain in the United States."

The Women's Encyclopedia has 88 reviews on Amazon U.S., with 45 5-star reviews and 19 1-star reviews, with an average rating of 3.6 stars. An anonymous Amazon customer wrote in 2002:

"I picked up this book in 1987, and was quite excited at first. My own research, however, quickly proved The Encyclopedia to be highly unreliable as a jumping-off point of feminist/pagan scholarship. A small amount of digging into B. Walker's sources will immediately prove how little research actually went into this work. The actual sources cited in Walker's footnotes frequently don't support her suppositions, and her etymology is just plain fanciful. She seems to feel that, if one word sounds like another word, they must necessarily be related. Ouch!

"Check this out for yourself. Pick a few entries, then look up all of the footnotes in your local university library. How many of Walker's sources have ANYTHING to do with the subject in question, let alone support her theories? It's a disappointing, but necessary, exercise for anyone determined to see The Encyclopedia honestly.

"Enjoy this book for its empowering (and fun) ideas, but don't place any weight on its 'scholarship.' It's a house of cards."

That's a clear enough message to inform me that Walker's writings are to be taken with a grain of salt, just like using a Wikipedia article as a reference - a fine start, but in need of more reliable back-up.

On Goodreads, the Encyclopedia has 826 ratings and 53 reviews. With an average of 4.27 stars, it has 266 5-star reviews and 12 1-star reviews. The 1-star review that pops up first, written by Colleen the Contrarian, reads:

"Barbara Walker has an obvious bias against all things male and/or Christian. She rewrites myth and history to make everything female-supreme, Goddess centric, anti-male, and full of sexual womyn power. Now, before someone dismisses me as 'obviously anti-female and deluded by patriarchy' or some such, I should state that I am a female neo-pagan with no love for the Church and/or the views it supports towards women. That said - I don't like made up or revisionist history, even if it does stroke the ego a bit. She bases everything on the supposed Pre-historical Matriarchy - which has little to no archeological evidence to truly support in the grand scale she portrays it.

"But besides that, her Encyclopedia and Dictionary are a mish-mash of cultural hodge-podge! She acts as if gods and goddesses from varying cultures are generally interchangeable, offering nothing for the cultural differences which give birth to their own representations of deity. She has butchered myths, made up 'alternate versions' which have no founding anywhere except her own imagination, ignored important details of myths which don't mesh with her agenda, and basically perverted the symbols she pretends to represent.

"Bad scholarship is bad enough... but her fabrications and invented history and myths are just a disgrace to the pagan community, and, in my opinion, an insult to women and to the goddess and gods which exist without the clap-trap found in this book. It does not present women as strong and/or empowered to rely on revisionist pseudo-history, no matter how good it may sound.

"There are many strong female figures out there...many strong goddesses of all ilks. This book does not do them justice."

I never knew! But now I do. See, this is why witches need communities, even if they are virtual ones. We can learn so much from each other, and it's a lifelong process.

Tomorrow: Disambiguation. Who is Logi, who is Lugh, and how did Loki get mixed up in all of this?

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Erin's Dream Diary: The Beltane Fertility Dream

The wheel of the year turns to Beltane, the cross-quarter holiday halfway between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. Symbolically, this is the time of union and consummation between the God and Goddess, representing renewal of the fertility of the Earth.

Bright blessings to you and yours if you're celebrating Beltane or May Day as a Neopagan, Wiccan, or witch.

Maypole dance. Public domain image by KenL

But this is going to be a personal post. I went to sleep on Beltane Eve, and this is what I dreamed:

I was a high school kid. I had a rare blood condition (probably nothing that exists in real life), so every day after school I had to go to the nurse's station in the school basement to get an injection. Oddly enough, there was another kid at the same school who had the same condition. He was Robert Downey Jr., high school kid version. We were friends.

RDJ: representing masculine energy/the God in my subconscious. Possibly because during the day I'd seen a commercial with Blythe Danner, mother of Gwyneth Paltrow who plays Pepper Pots in the Iron Man movies. I had briefly entertained fantasies of Danner appearing in a future film as Tony Stark's mother-in-law. Hence, the image of Downey as Stark had crossed my mind.

In addition to the nurse's station, the school basement contained the cafeteria, some art classrooms, and a staircase that led up to the gym (much like in the high school I actually went to). After our treatment one day, RDJ and I wandered around the mostly-unoccupied basement. He was joking about wanting to have sex with me.

We found an unguarded stash of snacks bound for the cafeteria and snagged a bag of Cheetos. Then we sat on the gym steps, eating our ill-gotten gains, and I joked that I was sexually aroused by Cheetos.

Cheetos. Public domain image by SCEhardt

Well, playful banter and junk food - one thing leads to another, resulting in actual sex. Then, actual sex again on a second occasion.

We were careful and used condoms both times, but not careful enough, because I became pregnant. Nine months later, we had a beautiful baby girl. Miraculously, she didn't even have our weird blood thing.

At first, he was a pretty cool dad. But then…well, let me back up. I was part of a church group that, on very cold days, would give rides to homeless people and give them warm places to stay temporarily. One cold day when the baby was still only a few months old, I was hanging out with a homeless woman who, if I had been awake, I would have said was my dad's late aunt Marcella. We'll just call her Marcella.

Marcella wanted me to go buy her a bottle of liquor. I said no, because A. I was still only 18 years old, not legal to buy alcohol in the United States, and B. I had to take care of the baby. But I did have access to an airplane-size bottle of some kind of alcoholic beverage, which I gave her.

Creative Commons image by Fernando Carrizo

Marcella complained that she did not like the taste. I gave her a can of Pepsi to mix it with. She didn't care for that either, so I gave her an airplane-size bottle of coconut rum instead. Marcella continued to complain and became increasingly disruptive until I asked her to step outside. We tussled. I had to put her in a bear hug so she didn't beat me up.

At this point, RDJ became very, "Oh, fuck this," and had some of his friends come pick him up. They went out and partied. He stayed out partying with his friends for weeks on end, forgoing his familial responsibilities. I figured I was abandoned and a single parent. Depressing, but I had to keep it together for the kiddo.

But as I was about to graduate from high school and planning to go to an art school, he came back. The party-boy phase was over, and he was ready to settle down. RDJ and I got married - and he turned out to be really good at parenting.

Happily ever after. Because those are the kinds of dreams a romance writer has.

Previous Dream Diary Entries:

A Wonderful Vampire Dream
The Adam Levine Dream
The Boy
The Inspirational Zombie Dream
Window Into the Mind of an Erotica Author
Yugoslavia!

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Mabon Greetings

Blessed be! The Wheel of the Year turns to Mabon, the autumnal equinox, also known as harvest tide or the “witches' Thanksgiving.” Its ancient antecedent was the second of the three Celtic harvest festivals, in between Lughnasa (August 1st, also known by the Christianized name Lammas) and Samhain (the harvest of winter meat, when the grazing animals were brought down from the hills for the winter, October 31). 

Mabon is a period of equal day and night, exactly in between Midsummer Night and the Winter Solstice. What exactly is Mabon as a Neopagan/Wiccan celebration? In modern practice, it's largely a harvest festival for enjoying autumn-gathered foods. It's also a solemn time for reflection on mortality; the goddess in her dark/death-bringer aspect may be recalled at this time. 

In agricultural symbolism, Mabon represents the death of the Green Man* – the crops now die so that human beings can store up food for winter. This is sometimes symbolized by the “sacrifice” or burning of a straw man, the Harvest Lord. The last sheaf of grain to be harvested is sometimes dressed up to become the Harvest Queen. The Harvest Queen is not burned, because she represents fertility and the hope for a good harvest again the following year.

I haven't read this one - the Henry Treece that I've read was 'Red Queen.' 

Because the power of the sun appears to be declining as we now head toward the Winter Solstice, Mabon can be a time to mark the passage of loved ones (as well as a time of mourning for the Green Man and/or the sun god). If you happen to pass a grave during Mabon, you're supposed to acknowledge the person who died and make your respects.

Various ancient Celtic legends have to do with Mabon. One has to do with a Welsh god named Mabon who is born from the womb of Mother Earth – the Earth is quite literally his mother, Modron – springing forth full of knowledge and strength he gained from his mother. (The goddess Modron comes down to us in Arthurian legend as Morgan.)

Another legend has to do with the Irish gods Lugh and Tanist. The twin brothers have opposite functions – Lugh is the god of light, and Tanist is the god of darkness. At Mabon, Tanist defeats Lugh, sits on his throne and steals Lugh's lover, the goddess Tailltiu. Nine months later – at the Summer Solstice – Tailltu gives birth to...well, Tanist. He dies and is reborn every year, and the legend of the dueling brothers relates to the legend of the holly and oak kings. 

However, it's a bit difficult to get really good sources for either of these legends, so take them each with a grain of salt. For example, if we turn to Encyclopedia Mythica:

- An article on Mabon is included, mentioning that Mabon is the son of "mother goddess" and lived in Annwn, which the encyclopedia names as the Welsh underworld but does not link with the mother-goddess's womb

- An article on Modron, without reference to her as Mother Earth, calling her only "a Welsh goddess" and a prototype of the Arthurian Morgan. 

- An article on Lugh, which doesn't mention him being a god of the sun or of light (although his fertility magic is related to the ripening of the crops, which was celebrated with a 30-day summer festival which was the antecedent of modern Lughnasa) and names his consort as Rosmerta (the Gaulish goddess of "fire, warmth, and abundance;" J.K. Rowling named the Three Broomsticks barmaid after her, perhaps for Madam Rosmerta's ability to dispense an abundance of butterbeers). 

- No article on Tanist. Wikipedia says that "tanaiste" (with an accent on the first a) is an Irish Gaelic word meaning second-in-command, heir, or first deputy of the clan chief or king. Ireland still uses the word to indicate the deputy prime minister. The Wikipedia entry also says that James Frazer, in The Golden Bough, used the word to designate a "substitute for the sacred king." To say that the god Lugh has a tanaiste or tanist may simply be a way of saying that he had a highly-honored "deputy" who was sacrificed in his place. 

However, in the holly king-oak king tradition, when Lugh's reign was over, Lugh would be sacrificed to make room for Tanist. Then Tanist's reign would end, and Tanist would be sacrificed to make room for Lugh in a never-ending cycle. 

- An article on Tailltu (spelled there with only one L) that names her not as Lugh's consort, but as his nurse. 

However, it's certainly possible that Tailltu and Rosmerta are different aspects of the same goddess, and it's certainly not unknown for a fertility/agricultural god to have a mother who, in another aspect or phase, is also his lover - it's an agricultural metaphor for the relationship between the earth (mother) and seed-bearing crop (son). 

Another myth that accounts for the declining daylight at this time of year is the myth of Persephone's descent into the Underworld, which is sometimes observed at Mabon. The grain-goddess Demeter is in mourning when her daughter Persephone goes into the Underworld, and her mourning is another aspect that gives Mabon a somewhat sad, solemn character in contrast to the joy we usually associated with harvest/thanksgiving celebrations.

Here is a review of the book Persephone (Daughters of Zeus), a book written by Kaitlin Bevis. The review is written by Abbey at Finding My Forever. 

Two more Persephone books that I read and reviewed over the past year:

Miss Underworld by Rachel Kechagias

Cora: The Unwilling Queen by Amy Hutchinson

Read more at The White Goddess, Earth Witchery, Love of the Goddess, and Mystickal Realms.



*In other versions of the legend, the death of Green Man, or the Holly King/Holly Knight (Sir Gawain's Green Knight) is associated with the Winter Solstice and the Lord of Misrule or Fool who was sacrificed after his moment of glory at the solstice festival. In his place, the Oak King would rule until he was deposed by the Holly King at Midsummer, i.e. the summer solstice. In this case, it would be easy to associate dark Tanist with the Holly King and bright Lugh with the Oak King, but then Mabon would only be the halfway point in Tanist's rule. Perhaps rather than his death, Mabon commemorates the Holly King's/Green Man's/Tanist's waning power.



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The Loki in Lughnasa

A few weeks ago, when Tom Hiddleston's erotic reading of Tennessee Williams' The Seven Descents of Myrtle came up in a prostitution-related post, I mentioned Hiddleston-portrayed Marvel Comics character Loki. The Norse god Loki, I said, sometimes has female characteristics, and is the mother of several offspring.

I got curious about the details of this story, so I turned to my trusty Hamilton's Mythology. It mentioned Loki's part in the death of the beloved god Balder, but says nothing of his children. I then turned to Myths and Folklore by Henry I. Christ, which is the textbook from which I studied mythology as a high school freshman and sophomore, ages ago. It, too, was of limited usefulness. It said, "Although handsome, he was fickle and unreliable. His three offspring were the wolf Fenris, the Midgard serpent, and Hela, or Death." 


Hela is often depicted as half alive and half dead. Hela is the death-goddess, an equivalent of Persephone and Kali. Her Celtic equivalent was Scotia, or Scatha, and Scotland was named after her. Also referred to as Skald in Norse mythology, she had to be appeased with the yearly blood sacrifice of a hero. 

I said Loki is the mother of this weird little brood, but Encyclopedia Mythica says Loki is the father and that their mother is the giantess Angrboda, Loki's mistress. Loki was the mother of the eight-legged colt Sleipnir; he took the form of a mare to distract the stallion Svadilfari, which belonged to a giant who opposed the gods. In doing so, Loki saved Freya from having to marry the giant. 


Then I went to Barbara G. Walker's The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. Walker writes, "Like many of the oldest gods, Loki was bisexual [in the sense that he was sometimes a male and sometimes a female]. He even succeeded in becoming a mother, though only after he swallowed a woman's heart to acquire the power of birth-giving...Loki's offspring was the eight-legged horse Sleipnir, spirit of death, a symbol of the gallows tree on which Odin rode." 

Walker notes that Loki was sometimes identified as "Logi," or "flame." She associates Loki-as-Logi with Lug (or Lugh), the Celtic god of fire, who was celebrated at Lughnasa/Lughnasadh (Lug's games) on August 1st. Hey, that's tomorrow!


Lug, it seems, is an Irish version of the annually dying and returning god. He's the son of Dagda (the great Irish father-god, equivalent to Odin), but also a reincarnation of Dagda. His mother/lover throughout the incarnation cycle is Tailltiu, the earth-goddess. At her eponymous Irish city, Taillten, the annual fair resulted in temporary marriages that lasted a year and a day. Lughnasa is reminiscent of Beltane - a cross-quarter holiday (the halfway point between a solstice and an equinox) at which a stage of the harvest is celebrated with symbolic acts of human fertility - i.e. sex, and not necessarily with one's usual partner. 

However you celebrate Lughnasa - bread and blueberries are traditional symbols of this stage of the Northern Hemisphere's harvest season - have a great one!

This Blue Monday is Beltane Monday

Blessed be! The Wheel of the Year turns to Beltane (sometimes spelled Beltaine), or May Day. In the Northern Hemisphere, this cross-quarter Pagan celebration falls halfway between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice.

Beltane celebrates the consummation of the union of God and Goddess, and fertility in general. The family-friendly explanation of Beltane is that it celebrates the fertility of the growing crops. Its primary symbols are the maypole and fire. One way to celebrate it is to bring greenery indoors from the woods or the nearest garden.

These are some of my best Beltane-related pins. First up, the illustration from my SexIs Magazine article "Sexual Tourism: An International Tour of Spring Fertility Festivals." It's from the Beltane Fire Festival, Calton Hill, Edinburgh, Scotland.

The god often associated with Beltane is Cernunnos, also called the Horned God. Horns are an ancient symbol of male fertility by association with horned livestock such as rams, goats and bulls.



Another of his incarnations is the Green Man, or Jack-o'-the-Green. The Green Man was a favorite motif of medieval church-builders. He's associated with a variety of folkloric figures, from fauns and satyrs to Robin Hood and Shakespeare's Puck to the Green Knight of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

An especially lovely modern interpretation of Cernunnos is this one.



Did I mention I wrote an erotic romance novel with a contemporary Beltane festival as the setting? You can read the original short story that started it all at The Erotic Woman.

Have a blessed Beltane!

Beltane 2010 post: An interview with Peter Joseph Swanson
Beltane 2011 post: Guest post by Ruby Sara

An Ostara Prayer and a Poetry Giveaway

First, the giveaway: I have four copies of the April 2012 Poetry magazine to give away to the first four readers who ask. All you have to do is let me know you want them. I'll send you an e-mail asking for a mailing address. I'll also include bookmarks from author Katie Salidas.

Today on some Christian calendars is Holy Thursday, known in the Church of England as Maundy Thursday. It commemorates Jesus' last seder meal, the Last Supper. Modern Christian celebrations of Maundy Thursday often involve foot-washing ceremonies. In the Catholic church, this is day for the yearly blessing of the holy oil used in baptisms and other sacraments.

Some Christians mark Maundy Thursday with a tenebrae (Latin for "shadows" or "darkness") service, a special service in which a series of readings are read aloud in church and a candle is extinguished after each reading, the last of which leaves the congregation in near darkness. (Some Christian denominations observe tenebrae services on Good Friday.) Tenebrae services are meant to recall the betrayal and anguish of Jesus.

Public domain image

The mood of anguish and betrayal lasts no more than four days, however. Easter, whether one observes the Christian traditions, the Pagan ones or both, is triumphant. The following Ostara/Easter prayer written by Diana Paxson comes from the publishers of Witches&Pagans, Crone and SageWoman magazines. It captures the change in mood that accompanies the spring holidays.

Ostara, public domain image

You can sign up to receive the publishers' e-mail updates at news@bbimedia.com. 

Hail Ostara, eastward arising,
Laughing goddess, Lady of Light —
To dawn, dominion over darkness
Thy glory has granted, gone is the night!
Winter’s wrath by winds of warmth
The maiden’s might has melted here
Everywhere green plants are growing,
Flowers flourish, she-beasts bear;
Let Thy light’s illumination
Banish sorrow, blessings bring,
Grant success, and a good season
To those who seek thee here this spring!
You are the sunlight on the leaves,
You are the music of the stream,
You are the scent upon the wind,
You are the dreamer and the dream.
You transform sorrow into joy,
You transform darkness into day,
You transform winter into warmth,
And death’s dominion fades away.You are consistency in change,
You are the patterning of chance.
You are never twice the same,
You are the dancer and the dance.

This article is an excerpt from “Ostara, Lady of Spring” first published in SageWoman 41, Spring 1998.

Diana Paxson is a leading loremistress, author, and seer in the Pagan and Heathen communities; her column “She of 10,000 Names” appears regularly in SageWoman. Find her at www.diana-paxson.com 

Paxson is the author of Taking Up the Runes: A Complete Guide to Using Runes in Spells, Rituals, Divination and Magic. When her mentor Marion Zimmer Bradley's health began to fail after she wrote Mists of Avalon, Paxton took up the series and wrote the sequels. 

WIP Wednesday: Happy Imbolc, Lá Fhéile Bríde, Candlemas and Groundhog Day!

Are you an author with a current work in progress? Would you like to share about your work on a future WIP Wednesday? If so, send your blurb to Erin O'Riordan: erinoriordan AT sbcglobal DOT net.

As a Groundhog Day treat, take 20% off The Smell of Gas (my pulp fiction novel - lots of sex and death) and "Melusine's Secret" at Lulu.com with the code SHADOWHOG306. Good through Feb. 3.

The first of February is a cross-quarter Pagan holiday, falling in between Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. The optimistic celebration of Imbolc looks forward to the end of winter and the renewal of spring - we're halfway there! Wear white or yellow for Imbolc to encourage the days to keep getting longer.

If you're interested in the folklore of Imbolc and the related February 1-2 holidays, you can read last year's post HERE. Remember, February 4th will be Sarasvati Puja, the birthday of the Hindu goddess Sarasvati.


Sarasvati Pictures

Over the weekend, I wrote a scholarly and humorous article about the word "smexy." The portmanteau word combining "smart" and "sexy" should be a favorite of mine, but I just can't bring myself to like it. Brigid came up in the discussion, as you'll read in this brief excerpt:

"If smexy were here [in the dictionary], it would fall precisely between smelter and smidgen. Smidgen’s not so bad; it has a cooking-show flavor, as in 'Add a smidgen of cardamom to your vanilla pudding.' Smidgen could even be delicious. Likewise, I have nothing against smelters, or anyone otherwise employed in the metallurgic arts. To my ancient Irish ancestors, smiths enjoyed the patronage of the great fire-goddess Brighid, and for the love of Brighid I could even love the word smelter.”


Imbolc Pictures

You might notice I also crammed in a pun on the word "flavor" and a reference to a line from Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? I was on a roll when I wrote the article, so I hope it gets picked up by SexIs Magazine. I also worked in references to SmexyAsians.com, Michael Trevino, Dick Cheney's iPod and Miles Fisher. "This Must Be the Place" is my example of a song that's kind of annoying at first, but then it grows on you. Then you can't get it out of your head. Then you embrace it. Then you love it.

This Must Be The Place (Cover) - Miles Fisher from Dave Green on Vimeo.

Of course you embrace the video right away, 'cause it's a wonderful American Psycho homage. Miles Fisher is SO smexy. (Photo by Nadav Benjamin, Creative Commons)

So, what are you working on this fine cross quarter holiday?

Is it St. Swithen's Day already? Pagan roots of a distinctly English holiday

The day is here at last: the release of the final Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two. J.K. Rowling has moved on; she is said to be hard at work on a new book, something completely different from Harry's world. It's the end of a great decade in children's literature, one that has amused me to no end. (I'm still not happy about Tonks and Lupin, btw.)

In honor of Harry Potter's ultimate film adaptation, I'd like to present a post that's as distinctively English as that fistfight between Hugh Grant and Colin Firth in Bridget Jones' Diary*. At its phoenix feather core, this post is also about a magic so strange and ancient it would make the late Albus Dumbledore proud.

July 15 is known in some parts of the U.K. as St. Swithen’s Day. The saint’s name is also spelled Swithin or Swithun. In the U.S., if the name sounds vaguely familiar, you’re probably a Simpsons fan. In the episode “Bart of Darkness,” a broken leg keeps Bart from playing in the Simpsons’ pool all summer, and he stays indoors writing a (strangely British) play:

[Cockney] "`Kippers for breakfast, Aunt Helga? Is it St.
Swithin's Day already?'
'Tis,' replied Aunt Helga…"

Kippers may or may not be eaten for breakfast on July 15, but the main food associated with St. Swithen is the apple. Apple farmers pray for rain on St. Swithen's Day, hoping for a good crop of apples in the fall, when they are harvested.

Apples were sacred to both the Celtic peoples of the British Isles and their Anglo-Saxon invaders. To the Celts, the gods lived in Avalon (Apple-Land), a magical place of immortality. Morgan, the death-goddess, could choose to bring living human beings to Avalon, as she did for King Arthur.

To the Norse cultures, the apple-land of immortality was tended by the goddess Hel in the far west. She had the power of reincarnation. The custom of roasting a pig with an apple in its mouth comes from their belief that food-animals could be reincarnated to return and be eaten again.

In accordance with the hope for future apples, July 15th is used for weather forecasting, like Groundhog Day (Imbolc). If it’s raining on St. Swithen’s Day, according to folklore, we’re in for forty more days of wet weather. If it’s sunny, the weather will be nice for forty days. (This phenomenon has actually been studied over more than 50 years, and it isn’t even remotely true.)

Swithen himself lived in England in the 9th century. He’s remembered as the founder of several churches. Sir Walter Scott mentions “St. Swithin’s Chair” in his 1814 novel Waverly. Scott locates the “chair,” actually the peak of a rocky crag, near a body of water called Loch Veolan in Scotland. Scott recounts a legend that if someone sits in St.Swithin’s Chair on Halloween, the “night-hag” (probably an owl; cailleach oidhche, “night hag,” is a Scottish expression for the bird) will have to answer three questions asked by the sitter.

“Night hag” is also an expression for a witch in bird form. Many goddesses are associated with the owl, including Greece’s Athena and Wales’ Blodeuwedd. If Scottish villagers associated St. Swithen’s Chair with asking questions of a witch or goddess-figure, the custom may be older than St. Swithen’s 9th century date of birth. Swithen may be a stand-in for a Pagan figure, or Christians who sought Pagan wisdom may have used his name to cover up activities that church officials would otherwise have frowned upon.

No one seems to know how the Christian saint whose feast day is in July became associated with the “chair," though it does seem connected with Halloween. October is the time of year when the apples ripen. Apples are still part of the symbolism of Halloween, as are owls. Some of us still bob for apples on Halloween, a custom that originated with the Celts, who may have associated the mock-drowning game with death. Agatha Christie certainly made the association when she wrote Hallowe'en Party.

The Celts did not fear death as our culture does, but considered it a return to the Goddess’ cauldron and a chance for rebirth. To be noticed by the Goddess in case they were killed, Celtic warriors painted themselves blue for battle. Blue represents ichor, the legendary “blue blood” divine beings possess.

*The Bridget Jones/Harry Potter connection: Shirley Henderson played Bridget's pal Jude and Hogwarts' resident ghost Moaning Myrtle. Authors J.K. Rowling and Helen Fielding have both been animated on The Simpsons.

Celebrating Midsummer Night

Midsummer Eve and Midsummer Night are celebrated in Europe around the time of the summer solstice (which sounds a little odd, since we now consider the solstice the beginning of the season, not the middle). It’s typically observed some time between June 19 and June 26. It's a particularly popular celebration in northern Europe, especially the Scandinavian countries. In the British Isles, Ireland and Cornwall celebrate Midsummer most actively.

American cities with large Swedish populations, including New York and Chicago, sometimes have public Midsummer celebrations. Midsummer is also celebrated in New Orleans by those who practice Voudou.

In the agricultural year, Midsummer marks the transition from spring planting to summer hay-making. It’s also the harvest time for early potatoes and strawberries. In folklore, Midsummer is one of the times of year when magic is at its strongest. It’s one of the nights to be on the lookout for fairies (as in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and/or evil spirits.

The Christianized named for Midsummer is St. John’s Day. It refers to St. John the Baptist, who is called Ivan Kupala in Russian. Gwyl Ifan is the Welsh name for St. John’s Day, and its Irish name is Oiche Fheile Eoin. The saint’s official feast day in the Catholic Church is June 24, corresponding to six months before and after Christmas. St. John’s Day is also a Masonic holiday, as John the Baptist is considered one of the “patron saints” of Masonry.

Before the Christian era, Finland celebrated Midsummer as the holiday of the god Ukko. The Irish associate it with Aine, the goddess of the moon and of love. On the Neopagan calendar, Midsummer is sometimes called Litha, a Germanic word.

Midsummer customs include gathering or ingesting certain herbs; herbs with healing powers are said to be especially effective at this time of year. Plants associated with Midsummer include the elder flower, fennel, fern, foxglove, oak, rosemary, rowan, and of course, St. John’s wort.

Some visit a stream, well or other water source said to have healing powers. In Poland, women throw wreaths of flowers into the Baltic Sea after wearing them in their hair. Young men swim out to catch the wreath of the girl they want to marry. In Spain, women who stand in the ocean until they are lapped with nine waves are said to have increased fertility.

Bonfires are also common. Jumping over the bonfire is an ancient fertility custom, and it also represents cleansing and purification. The fires are said to “call down” the sun, encouraging the sun to help the crops grow. In Ireland, on the day after Midsummer, the bonfire’s ashes are scattered in the field for good luck. In Christian times, religious icons that became broken or worn out could be destroyed in a Midsummer fire without disrespect.

In Cornwall (the south-western tip of England, south of Wales), a Midsummer (Golowan or Gol-Jowan in Cornish) ceremony has a Lady of the Flowers who casts a wreath of both medicinal and poisonous plants into the bonfire. Her traditional chant goes:

Otta kelmys yn-kemyskys
Blejyow, may fons-y cowl leskys,
Ha'n da, ha'n drok.
Re dartho an da myl egyn,
Glan re bo dyswres pup dregyn,
Yn tan, yn mok!

(In one bunch together bound
Flowers for burning here are found
Both good and ill.
Thousandfold let good seed spring
Wicked weeds, fast withering,
Let this fire kill!)

In very far northern latitudes, Midsummer is the time of the midnight sun, when there is no sunset. Further south, people might keep torches or other lights burning all night at Midsummer. Latvia observes this custom, and in more recent times has added a 3 a.m. nude run through the town of Kuldiga.

Midsummer is almost as popular as Christmas in some Scandinavian countries. The Swedish celebration includes a bonfire, a maypole, decorating the outsides of homes with flowers, and divination. Midsummer divination, like the customs surrounding St. Mark’s Day, often involves trying to find out whom one’s future spouse will be. In Denmark, witch effigies are burned on the bonfire, as is the custom in some parts of Spain.

Sources:
Midsummer
St. John's Eve
Scandinavian Midsummer's Eve
Midsummer in Cornwall
Midsummer in Ireland
Masonic holiday

The Forgotten Saints of Ireland

Every March 17th, we in the United States celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. It’s an excuse to wear green and to celebrate all things Irish, including green beer and whiskey. Did you know that St. Patrick wasn’t even born in Ireland? Technically, he was Scottish. If he hadn’t been kidnapped by pirates and sold into slavery, he might never have set foot on the Emerald Isle that inspired him to compare the Holy Trinity to the three leaves of a shamrock.

The following is a list of the real Irish saints. They may not be as famous as Patrick, at least not in the U.S.A., but their stories are just as colorful. If we celebrated their feast days, we could be partying like Bono all year ‘round. This is your guide to finding excuses to pretend to be Irish…if you weren’t lucky enough to be born Irish.

Early February: St. Bridget (Brigid) of Kildare. Called “The Mary of the Gaels,” her chieftain father and slave mother had been baptized by St. Patrick in the 400s. Bridget founded a double abbey at Cill-Dara (Kildare), the first in Ireland. She’s credited with many miracles, including turning her bathwater into beer to appease the thirst of visiting bishops. Her feast day is February 1. Because the first of February coincides with the Celtic Pagan celebration of Imbolc, which looks forward to the fertility rites of spring, Bridget the saint is sometimes said to be a version of Brigid, the Celtic mother-goddess.

Mid-February: St. Gobnait. Also called Gobnet or Gobnata, this 6th century nun was born in County Clare, where she is said to have fled to join the nunnery to escape a family feud. She had a vision telling her to found a church at the place where she found nine white deer grazing. She became an abbess and disciple of St. Abban, who placed her in charge of a convent in County Cork. A well there bears her name, and she is remembered in local art as a skillful beekeeper. Feb. 11th is her feast day.

Mid-May: St. Dymphna. The patroness of insanity and nervous breakdowns, this seventh-century daughter of a Celtic chieftain fled home after her mother died, allegedly to escape her father, who had taken an incestuous interest in her. She fled to Antwerp, where St. Gerebernus became her confessor. Dymphna, Gerebernus and two companions founded a hermitage near Amsterdam, but her father hunted them down and killed Gerebernus and his companions. When Dymphna refused to return with him, he had her beheaded. The relics of the four martyrs were said to have caused miracles in the thirteenth century. Her feast day is May 15th.

Mid-May: St. Brendan the Navigator. Born in County Kerry around the year 485, Brendan was a monk. He then became abbot and founded many monasteries, including Clonfert. Known for his missionary voyages, legend has it he may have even reached North America. His feast day is May 16.

Early June: St. Columba. Also known as Colm or Colmcille, “Colm of the Churches,” he died in 597. Born in County Donegal, Columba founded monasteries including Kells (at which the famous Book of Kells was written and illustrated). His claim to infamy is a feud with St. Finian over St. Jerome’s psalter; Columba made the first copy in Ireland and didn’t want to give it up. It led to the battle of Cuildeimhe, in which three thousand men were killed. In shame, he left Ireland for Scotland. He did return for visits, though. On one of them, he is credited with exempting Irish women from military service. There is no record of how this went over with the local Celtic warrior women. His feast day is June 9th.

Early June: St. Kevin of Glendalough. Called Coemgen or Caoimhghin in Gaelic this 6th century hermit was of noble birth, though family machinations kept him from the position due to him. Instead he became a hermit. Later he gave up his hermitage and then founded a monastery. Kevin is said to have lived to be 120, and is a patron saint of Dublin. St. Kevin was famous for his love of nature. He is said to have fed his monastery with salmon brought to him by an otter. Once, while he was praying, a blackbird laid her egg in Kevin’s outstretched hand. He remained in that position until the egg hatched. June 3rd is his feast day.

Late September: St. Finbar. Known as Fion-Bharr, or “White Head,” this 7th century illegitimate member of the royal family of Connaught was a hermit. The pope made him a bishop in Rome, and he returned to Ireland to found the monastery in Cork. The sun did not set for two weeks after his death, according to folklore. Sept. 25th is his feast day.

Early November: St. Malachy. He was famous for his prophecies about the popes. His full name was Mael Maedoc ua Morgair, or Maolmhaodhog ua Morgair, and he was born in Armagh in 1095. He replaced the Celtic liturgy with the Roman liturgy. An archbishop, he founded Mellifont Abbey and healed the son of King David I of Scotland. He died in the arms of St. Bernard of Clairvaux in 1148. November 3rd is his feast day.

Mid-November: St. Lawrence O’Toole. Born in 1128, his Irish name was Lorcan Ua Tuathail. Augustinian archbishop of Dublin, he was born at Kildare to an alliance of two chieftains, then taken hostage by the king of Leinster. He became a monk, then bishop in 1162. He was famous for his charity toward the poor of his diocese. He was involved in the negotiations between King Henry II and Irish high king Rory O’Connor following England’s invasion of Ireland. He died in 1180, still deeply involved in international politics. November 14th is his feast day.

So the next time you feel the need for a pint of Guinness or a shot of Jameson, remember: the next Irish saint’s day may be only a few weeks away.

Resources Used:

Bunson, Matthew, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson. Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints (Revised). Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 2003.

Farmer, David Hugh. The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978.

Originally published in the March 2010 Irish News.

Let the Lupercalia Begin!

I love the word “Lupercalia.” It’s an old word, older than the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. In very ancient times, the Romans celebrated the Lupercalia over several days in the middle of February. It’s a festival so ancient, its original meaning has been largely lost. One guess is that it celebrated Lupercus, the god who protected shepherds’ flocks from wolves. Another guess is that a wolf-goddess, called Lupa (which simply means she-wolf in Latin), was worshiped. The she-wolf was honored for having nurtured the infants Romulus and Remus, who went on to found Rome. Lupa was honored with animal sacrifices in her sacred caves.

The Lupercalia fell in the midst of the month devoted to Juno Februata, meaning Juno (the Queen of Heaven and goddess of marriage) of the fever of love. Perhaps because of the Lupercalia’s association with the goddess of conjugal relationships, the wolf-goddess’s feast was also celebrated with erotic games. Young participants in the Lupercalia chose their partners in these games by choosing slips of paper…the ancient ancestors of modern valentines.

Iūnō Rēgina Deōrum

It’s unclear how the Christian saint Valentine became associated with the Lupercalia. Catholic resources suggest there was more than one Roman martyr named Valentine. One Valentine is said to have been a priest who married Christian couples against the wishes of the Roman Emperor Claudius II. He was said to be executed on February 14, 270 CE. A particularly romantic version of the legend says Valentine, imprisoned awaiting his execution, fell in love with his jailer’s daughter and sent her a love letter signed “From your Valentine.” This is probably just a sanitized explanation of the lust notes generated by the Lupercalia, though.

This gives me an idea for a new m/m/f romance: two hot young Roman studs at the Lupercalia, only one slip of paper left…looks like they’ll have to share their blushing maiden. Let the Lupercalia begin!

More Lupercalia fun:
The History Channel on Valentine's Day
10 Most Romantic Valentine’s Day Foods (link no longer works)
10 Most Romantic Literary Classics

Dancing at Lughnasa (Lughnasadh)

Blessed be! The wheel of the year turns to Lughnasa, the first of the major harvest days that conclude with Samhain/Halloween (the harvest of winter meat). It marks the first festival of the waning year, the first major festival since Midsummer Night. In astronomical terms, this is the halfway point between Summer Solstice and Autumnal Equinox.

In Scotland, the name of this festival is Lunasdal, and in Wales it's simply Gwyl Awst, "the August feast." The Christianized name for Lughnasa is Lammas, or "Loaf Mass." The name recalls the Pagan tradition of honoring the first grain harvest of the year, with the added ritual of attending a Christian mass or church service.

The Irish consider it the feast of the god Lugh, who consecrated it in honor of his foster-mother's death. Lugh's foster-mother Tailtiu, "The Great One of the Earth," represents the land of Ireland itself. Thus, her death is symbolic of the harvest: the crops sacrifice themselves so human beings and animals can live. Tailtiu's death was celebrated with feasting, Olympic-style games, bonfires and handfasting ceremonies. Where corn is harvested, the goddess is often visually represented by making corn dolls.

This is the grain harvest, so baking breads and other baked goods is a long-standing Lughnasa tradition. The blueberries are also in season (now through Labor Day) and are also a common ingredient in Lughnasa treats.

Whatever you do today, enjoy!