Religion, Philosophy, and/or Science?
pg. 5
| Mother Earth Series: | ME 1 | ME 2 | ME 3 | ME 4 | ME 5 |
| Witches, Wiccans, Pagans Series: | WW3 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | WW3 Ideology |
Visitors as of 05/11/2023
It is a rather curious feature of those wanting to provide readers with an understanding of what takes place in a WE3 community to report on what is told to them by one or more members which may include the participation of the story writer in an actual ceremony. A very basic level of appreciation is undertaken because that is the limit of the depth that most investigators and reviewers can go. In the case of practitioners they may delve a little deeper than most, but they too are able to make only the simplest historical connections, much less make a report of their findings to others who may not have any readily available cognitive means to grasp ideas which may require a cross-cultural in depth review. Most are simply not interest in originations other than those which are thought to be fundamental tools of their trade. In other words, they will make use of those tools a blacksmith of their art(s) created but do not want to know how, why, when, where and by whom the tools were made, or even if they are accurate and based upon sound practices... metaphorically speaking. Similarly, they want to ride the horse if it is described in some ancient manuscript of a previous practitioner, instead of riding a bicycle, driving a car, or even walking. If some ancient practitioner used a certain item or engaged in a given language and dress code as well as scenery, then this is what is adopted as a "true" practice, without gaining any understanding of why a practice was undertaken... or whether the practitioner(s) was/were mistaken or dead wrong. If modern practitioners can do away with animal and human sacrifices, they can do away with other nonsense as well.
If one was so-called true to the old ways of practicing, then the members might go without taking a bath, washing their clothes, drinking fresh water, using electricity, getting a pay or pension check, watching TV, listening to music, going to a store, wearing store-bought clothes, using toilet paper, using refrigerators, stoves, and modern tools, etc., unless they see the realistic benefits of re-examining ancient practices and forming an educated opinion themselves about what and why something took place... and did they actually achieve something or was it in their head? Clearly the fertility practices of the past dealing with animals and plants was more tightly watched over by multiple members of a community whose very existence depended on whether or not their was a bountiful season which they hoped a given ritual would supply them with... and if a bounty was experienced, then this was all the more reason to continue the festival or other practice... except all such practices came to an end.
It is not too difficult to imagine that worshipping Nature in the past was a highly serious exercise. To use such practices in the present under current commercial and social practices of livelihood, regulates such activities into being described as echoes, silhouettes, shadows, mimicry or other designated descriptions involving mimicry, like a parrot or myna bird. They're entertaining, but not much use for anything else, though the birds think their behavior is valuable because they receive some reward for it. Many practitioners of today don't want to or even how to reinvent themselves, because they have attached themselves to some believed-in ancient theme of practice it has become a secure playpen in which stuffed animals, teething rings,, etc., act like a security blanket... and the outside-the-playpen (community) observers expect them to behave in a certain way. Those on the outside have become accustomed to what can be described as WW3 antics, whereby any change in belief or customs or tools of the trade, call for interventions meant to keep the WW3 community practicing that which is understood and does not provide any threat to any other established institution.
Let us note that when discussing a religious form of spirituality tied to Nature, its historical roots go deep into time that may be further back than the Zoroastrian practices which involved not only a dualistic orientation but the beginnings of a single god ideology as well. In other writings I have note that there appears to be the usage of a single god concept to surmount multiple or polytheistic god concepts. And though we can see the usage of dualities and singularities, the mind of humans in ancient times did not record for us a multiple usage of three-part themes... as if the human brain had to wait awhile for further development in a socially collective manner. The usage of a three-part orientation is of later times, just as we see the life story of Jesus replete with patterns-of-three (3 Wise Men- English), but no other figure in the bible has such a (number) value attached to them. The recognition and acknowledgment of the "1- 2- 3" distinctions in ideology are important because they are fundamental references of human brain activity that become embellished with different labels and symbolism attached to different practices, usually stemming from ancient traditions created by those whose grasp of nature was both infantile and particularly biased along a person's cultural orientations, and have no place in the hands of those as primary tools by which to commune with, divine or pursue a progression of an ideology. Practicing traditions is no guarantee that what one seeks is being accomplished, since that which was sought for was created in the imaginative dispositions of ancient practitioners whose mental state must be questioned due to the quality of medical treatment and nutrients which were absent. The perspective of children, however sincere and authentic their attempts at portraying what they think they see, is no reason to blatantly accept such reports and participate in a similarity of orientation.
The ancient Greeks saw in Zoroastrianism the archetype of the dualistic view of the world and of man's destiny. Zoroaster was supposed to have instructed Pythagoras in Babylon and to have inspired the Chaldean doctrines of astrology and magic. It is likely that Zoroastrianism influenced the development of Judaism and the birth of Christianity. The Christians, following a Jewish tradition, identified Zoroaster with Ezekiel, Nimrod, Seth, Balaam, and Baruch, and even, through the latter, with Christ himself. On the other hand, Zoroaster, as the presumed founder of astrology and magic, could be considered the arch-heretic. In more recent times the study of Zoroastrianism has played a decisive part in reconstructing the religion and social structure of the Indo-European peoples.
Though Zoroastrianism was never, even in the thinking of its founder, as aggressively monotheistic as, for instance, Judaism or Isla-m, it does represent an original attempt at unifying under the worship of one supreme god a polytheistic religion comparable to those of the ancient Greeks, Latins, Indians, and other early peoples.
Its other salient feature, namely dualism, was never understood in an absolute, rigorous fashion. Good and Evil fight an unequal battle in which the former is assured of triumph. God's omnipotence is thus only temporarily limited. In this struggle man must enlist because of his capacity of free choice. He does so with his soul and body, not against his body, for the opposition between good and evil is not the same as the one between spirit and matter. Contrary to the Christian or Manichaean (from Manichaeism—a Hellenistic, dualistic religion founded by the Iranian prophet Mani) attitude, fasting and celibacy are proscribed, except as part of the purificatory ritual. Man's fight has a negative aspect, nonetheless: he must keep himself pure; i.e., avoid defilement by the forces of death, contact with dead matter, etc. Thus Zoroastrian ethics, although in itself lofty and rational, has a ritual aspect that is all-pervading. On the whole, Zoroastrianism is optimistic and has remained so even through the hardship and oppression of its believers. ("Zoroastrianism." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
The god of heaven viewed dualistically
In several religions the god of heaven has an antagonistic evil adversary who delights in destroying completely or partially the good creative deeds of the god of heaven. This helps to explain the insecurity of existence and concepts of ethical dualism. In most such cases, the contrasts experienced in the relationship between heaven and earth deities have been reevaluated along ethical lines by means of exalting the heavenly elements at the expense of the earthly ones (especially in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic sects in Europe, west-central and northern Asia, and certain areas of northern Africa). The figure of an antagonistic trickster or demiurge that has a somewhat ethical component may be the result of diffusion and is rather rare in such cultures as those of the Khoisan and the indigenous peoples of Australia and North America.
The god of heaven viewed Monotheistically
The god of heaven, viewed in his ethical aspect, is always an active, single god—e.g., as in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic monotheism. ("nature worship." Encyclopædia Britannica.)
H.O.B. Note:
Notice there is no reference to "The god of heaven viewed tri-listically". The use of a "1" and "2" ideas in religion (single god concept, dual god concept) mimic the developmental usage of early humans' efforts to develop a counting system. A repeat of early attempts of counting took place in religious ideology whereby there was a 1 and two enumeration but that every quantity beyond "two" might be designated as many, heap, pile, a lot, bunch, etc. The same underlying cognitive passage to conceptualize higher numbers followed a 1- 2- many route, just as we see occurring in religions thought, with only much later religions coming to express an interest in using a "three", though it need not have been confined to the subject of religion; and is sometimes referred to as mythology, as in the case of such examples as the 3 fates, furies, gorgons, triple-headed Cerberus, a triple- forked (trident) of Poseidon, etc... In short, one can tell the age of an idea in some circumstances by referencing a number pattern as being most dominant. Early humanity did not reference the "3" as it had the 1 and 2, as well as five, ten or 20 (hand-fingers/foot-toes) or four (4 appendages), or the 7 (number of stars in the Big dipper and Pleiades); with the "13" as a construct of the 1 and 3 (limits of early counting system), and as the first teen... of which I have on earlier occasions made reference to the quantity being "seven", but this is not an example you find elsewhere by those supplying numerological examples, unless they have come across my usage of it. Interestingly, with respect to mythology and the "3", you also will not find the 3 legendary examples of unique horses being quantified as a group, though they are referenced singularly: Pegasus- Unicorn- Centaur.
the Centaur might well be the first recognition of a countryside "Pagan", though they were not labeled as such till much later in history. Take a look at this account:
Centaurs may best be explained as the creation of a folktale in which wild inhabitants of the mountains and savage spirits of the forests were combined in half-human, half-animal form. In early art they were portrayed as human beings in front, with the body and hindlegs of a horse attached to the back; later, they were men only as far as the waist. They fought using rough branches of trees as weapons.
In Greek mythology, a race of creatures, part horse and part man, dwelling in the mountains of Thessaly and Arcadia. Traditionally they were the offspring of Ixion, king of the neighbouring Lapiths, and were best known for their fight (centauromachy) with the Lapiths, which resulted from their attempt to carry off the bride of Pirithous, son and successor of Ixion. They lost the battle and were driven from Mount Pelion. In later Greek times they were often represented drawing the chariot of the wine god Dionysus or bound and ridden by Eros, the god of love, in allusion to their drunken and amorous habits. Their general character was that of wild, lawless, and inhospitable beings, the slaves of their animal passions. (The Centaur Chiron was not typical in this respect.) ("Centaur." Encyclopædia Britannica,2013.)
Chiron: in Greek mythology, one of the Centaurs, the son of the Titan Cronus and Philyra, an Oceanid or sea nymph. Chiron lived at the foot of Mount Pelion in Thessaly. Unlike other Centaurs, who were violent and savage, he was famous for his wisdom and knowledge of medicine. Many Greek heroes, including Heracles, Achilles, Jason, and Asclepius, were instructed by him. Chiron frequently appears in the legends of his grandson, Peleus, and his great-grandson, Achilles. Accidentally pierced by a poisoned arrow shot by Heracles, he renounced his immortality in favour of Prometheus and was placed among the stars as the constellation Centaurus. ("Chiron." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
As far as making a correlation with one of three mythological horses and Witches, we might want to consider that Pegasus is thought to have sprung from the blood of the severed head of the (assumed) Witch Medusa because of her power:
Pegasus:
in Greek mythology, a winged horse that sprang from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa as she was beheaded by the hero Perseus. With Athena's (or Poseidon's) help, another Greek hero, Bellerophon, captured Pegasus and rode him first in his fight with the Chimera and later while he was taking vengeance on Stheneboea (Anteia), who had falsely accused Bellerophon. Subsequently Bellerophon attempted to fly with Pegasus to heaven but was unseated and killed or, by some accounts, lamed. The winged horse became a constellation and the servant of Zeus. The spring Hippocrene on Mount Helicon was believed to have been created when the hoof of Pegasus struck a rock.
Pegasus's story was a favourite theme in Greek art and literature; Euripides' lost tragedy Bellerophon was parodied at the beginning of Aristophanes' Peace (421 BC). In late antiquity Pegasus's soaring flight was interpreted as an allegory of the soul's immortality; in modern times it has been regarded as a symbol of poetic inspiration. ("Pegasus." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
Medusa:
In Greek mythology, the most famous of the monster figures known as Gorgons. She was usually represented as a winged female creature having a head of hair consisting of snakes; unlike the Gorgons, she was sometimes represented as very beautiful. Medusa was the only Gorgon who was mortal; hence her slayer, Perseus, was able to kill her by cutting off her head. From the blood that spurted from her neck sprang Chrysaor and Pegasus, her two sons by Poseidon. The severed head, which had the power of turning into stone all who looked upon it, was given to Athena, who placed it in her shield; according to another account, Perseus buried it in the marketplace of Argos.
Heracles (Hercules) is said to have obtained a lock of Medusa's hair (which possessed the same powers as the head) from Athena and given it to Sterope, the daughter of Cepheus, as a protection for the town of Tegea against attack; when exposed to view, the lock was supposed to bring on a storm, which put the enemy to flight.
In the British writer Iris Murdoch's novel A Severed Head (1961), the heroine is a Medusa figure. ("Medusa." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
Gorgon:
Monster figure in Greek mythology. Homer spoke of a single Gorgon—a monster of the underworld. The later Greek poet Hesiod increased the number of Gorgons to three—Stheno (the Mighty), Euryale (the Far Springer), and Medusa (the Queen)—and made them the daughters of the sea god Phorcys and of his sister—wife Ceto. The Attic tradition regarded the Gorgon as a monster produced by GAEA, the personification of Earth, to aid her sons against the gods. ("Gorgon." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
With respect to the offspring of Gaea and a previous reference concerning early Pagans (intimated) as uncouth, uncultured, uncleansed creatures, let us make note of certain parallels where they are described as "children" of the Earth, or as we might have said in the 1960's, the Hippies. Such a word reminds me of what the Then California Governor Ronald Regan said of Hippies:
- They wear clothes like Tarzan.
- They have long hair like Jane.
- And they smell like Cheeta.
Let's take a look at three of the described children of Gaea to see if they remind the reader of rural pagans. (Hmmm, were there upper and middle class levels of Pagans as well?
Giant:
in folklore, huge mythical being, usually humanlike in form. The term derives (through Latin) from the Giants (Gigantes) of Greek mythology, who were monstrous, savage creatures often depicted with men's bodies terminating in serpentine legs. According to the Greek poet Hesiod, they were sons of Ge ("Earth") and Uranus ("Heaven"). The Gigantomachy was a desperate struggle between the Giants and the Olympians. The gods finally prevailed through the aid of Heracles the archer, and the Giants were slain. Many of them were believed to lie buried under mountains and to indicate their presence by volcanic fires and earthquakes. The Gigantomachy became a popular artistic theme (found, for example, on the frieze adorning the great altar at Pergamum), and it was interpreted as a symbol of the triumph of Hellenism over barbarism, of good over evil.
The giants of Norse mythology were primeval beings existing before the gods and overcome by them. Giants in folklore were mortals who inhabited the world in early times. Israelite spies in Canaan saw giants (Numbers 13:32–33), and such beings once, in legend, roamed Cornwall in Britain (see Corineus).
European medieval towns often had tutelary giants whose effigies were carried in procession. In London the giant figures of Gog (q.v.) and Magog are said to represent two Cornish giants made captive by Brutus, the legendary founder of Britain. The 40-foot (12-metre) effigy of Druon Antigonus at Antwerp and the 22-foot (7-metre) figure of Gayant at Douai, Fr., preserve similar traditions.
In most European tales giants appear as cruel and stupid, given to cannibalism, and often one-eyed. Heroes who killed them often did so more by wit than by strength. Although kindly giants occur (e.g., Rübezahl, who lived in the Bohemian forest), most were feared and hated; but marriages between their daughters and the hero were possible.
Hill figures, such as the giant of Cerne cut in the chalk near Cerne Abbas, Dorset, as well as megalithic monuments and long barrows, suggested giant builders of the past; and an ancient European tradition held that people had once been taller and stronger but had degenerated after a golden age. ("giant." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
Erinyes: Furies, also called Eumenides
n Greco-Roman mythology, goddesses of vengeance. They were probably personified curses, but possibly they were originally conceived of as ghosts of the murdered. According to the Greek poet Hesiod they were the daughters of Gaea (Earth) and sprang from the blood of her mutilated spouse Uranus; in the plays of Aeschylus they were the daughters of Nyx; in those of Sophocles, they were the daughters of Darkness and of Gaea. Euripides was the first to speak of them as three in number. Later writers named them Allecto ("Unceasing in Anger"), Tisiphone ("Avenger of Murder"), and Megaera ("Jealous"). They lived in the underworld and ascended to earth to pursue the wicked. Being deities of the underworld, they were often identified with spirits of the fertility of the earth. Because the Greeks feared to utter the dreaded name Erinyes, the goddesses were often addressed by the euphemistic names Eumenides ("Kind Ones") or Semnai Theai ("Venerable Goddesses"). ("Furies." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
Cyclops: Greek "Round Eye"
In Greek legend and literature, any of several one-eyed giants to whom were ascribed a variety of histories and deeds. In Homer the Cyclopes were cannibals, living a rude pastoral life in a distant land (traditionally Sicily), and the Odyssey contains a well-known episode in which Odysseus escapes death by blinding the Cyclops Polyphemus. In Hesiod the Cyclopes were three sons of Uranus and Gaea—Arges, Brontes, and Steropes (Bright, Thunderer, Lightener)—who forged the thunderbolts of Zeus. Later authors made them the workmen of Hephaestus and said that Apollo killed them for making the thunderbolt that slew his son Asclepius.
The walls of several ancient cities (e.g., Tiryns) of Mycenaean architecture were sometimes said to have been built by Cyclopes. Hence in modern archaeology the term cyclopean is applied to walling of which the stones are not squared. ("Cyclops." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
Note how the frequency for using "3-groupings" increase as we go forward in time to the present.
The third highly noted mythologized horse is the Unicorn. It is to this horse one might want to correlate with Wiccans, without any attempt to assign valuation where the 3 horses are given score cards (like a grading system) that are then embraced by members of the WW3 as distinctions to be assumed they likewise represent.
Unicorn
(A) mythological animal resembling a horse or a kid with a single horn on its forehead. The unicorn appeared in early Mesopotamian artworks, and it also was referred to in the ancient myths of India and China. The earliest description in Greek literature of a single-horned (Greek monokero-s, Latin unicornis) animal was by the historian Ctesias (c. 400 BCE), who related that the Indian wild ass was the size of a horse:
- THREE: With a white body, purple head, and blue eyes,
- THREE: On its forehead was a cubit-long horn coloured red at the pointed tip, black in the middle, and white at the base.
- THREE: Those who drank from its horn were thought to be protected from stomach trouble, epilepsy, and poison.
It was very fleet of foot and difficult to capture. The actual animal behind Ctesias's description was probably the Indian rhinoceros.
Certain poetical passages of the Bible refer to a strong and splendid horned animal called re'em. This word was translated "unicorn" or "rhinoceros" in many versions of the Bible, but many modern translations prefer "wild ox" (aurochs), which is the correct meaning of the Hebrew re?em. As a biblical animal, the unicorn was interpreted allegorically in the early Christian church. One of the earliest such interpretations appears in the ancient Greek bestiary known as the Physiologus, which states that the unicorn is a strong, fierce animal that can be caught only if a virgin maiden is thrown before it. The unicorn leaps into the virgin's lap, and she suckles it and leads it to the king's palace. Medieval writers thus likened the unicorn to Christ, who raised up a horn of salvation for mankind and dwelt in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Other legends tell of the unicorn's combat with the elephant, whom it finally spears to death with its horn, and of the unicorn's purifying of poisoned waters with its horn so that other animals may drink.
Cups reputedly made of unicorn horn—but actually made of rhinoceros horn or narwhal tusk—were highly valued by important persons in the Middle Ages as a protection against poisoned drinks. Many fine representations of the hunt of the unicorn survive in medieval art, not only in Europe but also in the Islamic world and in China. ("unicorn." Encyclopæædia Britannica, 2013.)
In the foregoing few examples we see a cognitive trend towards the usage of patterns-of-two in ideas, to the usage of patterns-of-three, at least in the Germanic case... which eventually culminated in the "Three" of Hitler's Third Reich. Such cognitive patterns and various symbology (such as the Yggdrasil tree) which may be used in current-day Witch, Wiccan and Pagan practices, are overlooked as to the extent their inter-connectivities occur throughout the world in different traditions of thought dressed in the garments of a particular culture's language; yet it is doubtful that many practitioners are even cognizant of their usage as part of a cognitive series of development and the origin of such a usage of patterned formula.
With respect to naming conventions (where the singular Witches- Wiccans- Pagans) are viewed as three names of a single united group), we also see this in the names of people when in earlier times a person had a single name that was later followed by the usage of a second named derived from a father for a surname such as Michaelson (son of Michael), Samson (son of Sam), Williamson (son of William), etc... Still later in history we find the use of three names taken as a pattern from the Roman system of naming (praenomen, nomen, cognomen).
Date of Origination: Wednesday 15th February, 2023... 2:15 AM
Initial Posting Date: Thursday 11th May, 2023... 8:24 AM