God of Life

A conversation I had a while back with @PIELexicon

The miniature Hittite figurine from Karkamiš dated to the 13th century BC depicting ‘My Majesty, God of Life’ (SOL2 VITA)

Me: Is that a double edged axe he is holding in his hand?

@PIELexicon: No. It is the Hieroglyphic Luwian sign *369 VITA ‘life’, ‘the cross of life’, called Ankh in the Egyptian tradition, who had the same sign. As far as I can see, it actually represents a human body with head, hands, and legs (or at least this is suggested by some of its variants:

Me: In Egypt, ankh (life) was directly linked to water. Due to climate and hydrology, in Egypt this water that was the source of life was the water from the Nile. I talk about this in several of my posts: Sycamore goddess, Crux ansata, Lotus and papyrus...

@PIELexicon: That makes a lot of sense to me, because – although I have no explicit proof – I think that the ‘Storm-God of Life’ was also the ‘Storm-God of Water’, mentioned in the cuneiform texts: In the ancient view everything living had liquid, blood, water, which was the ‘elixir of life’.

Me: Hence axe ankh...Anatolian storm gods all weilded axes...

I talked about this in my posts Jupter-Zeus Dolichenus, Goibniu, Teshub killing snake

Axes which represented thunderbolts...

I talked about this in my posts Goibniu, "Thunder axe" and "Kataibates"...

And it was the rain that thunder gods brought that was the source of life in Anatolia...

@PIELexicon: The hieroglyphic sign *281  (ASCIA) ‘axe’ is slightly different from VITA (*369): The axe is shown in horizontal position, not vertical like VITA. In addition, *281 has a handle, not ‘legs’ like VITA, probably standing for a man (or a human, so probably two different things...

Me: Maybe because what the god is holding is not just an ordinary axe, but (thunder) axe that brings life...

It's a combination of two symbols, ankh + axe

BTW, I just noticed something. Does Emirgazi axe symbol actually have bull head as an axe head?

And he stood on a bull because...Officially we don't know, but actually we do know. He stood on a bull because:

This Hittite symbol means storm god. Bottom part (Bull head) means storm, the above part means god...

The thunderstorm season in Anatolia starts in Apr/May, Taurus...Which is why Hittite Thunder God stands on a bull...I talked about this in my post "Bull god from Arslantepe"

Apr/May, the start of the thunderstorm season in Anatolia and Southern Europe, is also the start of the calving season of the wild Eurasian cattle...

This is what Taurus, Bull (it really should be Calf), marks. It originally had nothing to do with stars. It was a marker for Apr/May, the beginning of the calving season of the wild Eurasian cattle. Talked about it in many of my posts...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, which are at the root of all our mythologies, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

North Berwick witches

In 1590, the North Berwick witch trials in Scotland involved accusations that witches had raised storms against King James VI. The trials became notorious for torture, coerced confessions, and royal involvement. 

Interesting...

An illustration titled "A witch of about the middle of the fifteenth century" from Sir Walter Scott's 1830 book, Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft. It depicts a witch riding ahead of a storm...

According to folk belief, #witches, unlike fairies, are unable to shed tears. Tears were an offence to the devil who would do whatever was possible to prevent witches from crying. Recorded in Medieval witch hunter guide MALLEUS MALEFICARIUM 1486

Very interesting...I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that weather (rain/storm) magic was the main female (witches) magic? 

Witches tears = rain?

The main "Evil Magic" witches were accused of was weather magic used to cause cold, wet, stormy weather. 

Two witches conjuring a hailstorm. Did you know that the sudden climate change which resulted in the medieval mini ice age was blamed on the weather controlling witches and was the excuse for the subsequent witch-hunt? 

I talked about this in my post De lamiis et pythonicis mulieribus...

I also talked about this in these two articles, Weather stones and The last megalithic ritual in Europe about the use of "weather stones" among Slavs. Like in Belarus, where women (Yin, dark, wet, cold) raise Dabog's stone during drought to get cool and wet weather...The last megalithic ritual in Europe? And could it be that (at least some) standing stones were raised as weather stones during past sudden climate changes?   

May Day Eve is across Northern and Central Europe known as Walpurgis Night, the night when everyone is trying to "ward off, scare, witches". Why? 

Maybe this has something to do with the old calendar which divided year into winter and summer...And the fact that "The Witch" here is "The Winter Earth"...

Which is why we "burn" (effigies of) "The Witch" (fire of the late spring/summer sun destroys the cold of winter/early spring earth)...

I talk abou this in my post Walpurgis night...

Slavs have preserved the true nature of this ritual, because they don't burn "The Witch". They burn "Marzana" (Frost Goddess, Winter Earth) or "Morana" (Goddess of Death)...

Slavs equated The Goddess of Death, Morana (mor=death) with The Winter Earth, Marzana (marz=frost). She is ceremonially burned (warmed) or drowned (thawed) or both (to be sure to be sure 🙂) during Slavic spring festivals...

This painging called "Maslenitsa" by Simon Kozhin depicts exactly that, people celebrating the burning (ending) of Winter Witch (by the spring sun)...  

Here are some articles in which I talk about this ritual and related customs and beliefs in Slavic, Germanic, Celtic Europe: Gryla, Party, Bannock, To kill a witch, Baba's day, Living stone, Baba - cold, winter...

Slovenians preserved the actual origin of "The Witch"...

Originally people believed that it was Mother Earth that controlled the Yin half of the climate (Dark/Cold/Wet) half...

This bedrock outcrop near the village of Rodik in Slovenia is known locally as "Baba" (Grandmother)... Locals believed that "Baba" controls the (bad) weather: Baba’s urine turns to rain, her fart to wind, and when she raises her skirt, the weather gets nice...🙂

Bedrock is in the Balkans known as "živi kamen, živa stena" (living stone, living rock) because it is believed to be still part of the living body of the Mother Earth which gives birth to all life...

I talk about it in my post Living stone...

This pic is a great illustration of this fact...

Mother Earth has been symbolically linked with women for who knows how long...

They both give birth to living things.

They both produce life giving liquid (water/milk).

Which is why (dark/wet/cold weather and fertility) magic became female magic...

The knowledge how to perform this magic was passed from mother to daughter...

Originally it was all the old women that preserved and performed the weather magic...

In Serbian we have these words: nevesta (ne vešta) = not skilful (knowledgable, wise) = maiden, vešta (the skilful one, married woman, the one who "knows") and veštica (the witch, the old woman, the one who knows everything, the preserver of sacred knowledge)...

And this is how "The Witches" were born...

I talked about this in my post The skillful one and Wrach...

Apotropaic

In Serbia axe was still used as a protection against (thunder, hail) storms until recently. Before a storm, an axe was thrown into the yard with the blade facing the sky, "to cut the clouds, ice"...

People believed that axe was the weapon of the Thunder God, and by using the axe, people "enacted" the Thunder God himself...

Check my posts Jupiter Zeus Dolichenus, Teshub killing snake, Goibniu to see why the thunder gods were linked to (armed with) axes...

Why were Thunder Gods armed with axes?

A 15th-century engraving depicts the town of Ensisheim in present-day France being struck by a thunderbolt (stone)...I talked about this in my post "Jack and magic beans", about giants who lived on a stone sky and who hurled giants rocks down on earth...The original sky (stone) thunder gods...

People all over the world believed that thunderbolts were made of stone. Interestingly, people also thought that these thunder stones were actually (shaped like) stone axes...This belief existed in Europe until well into the Middle Ages...Which is why ancient stone axes were believed to be petrified lightnings and were kept as talismans as a protection against lightning strikes...

I talked about this in my posts "Thunder axe" and "Kataibates"...

The use of iron axes for protection from thunder strikes is just a continuation of this ancient tradition...

People always used (iron) axe as the first and the best weapon against (thunder, hail) storms. But they believed that iron in general was in some way connected with thunder (god) and could influence his behaviour.

This can be seen from the fact that other sharp iron objects were also used as a defence against (thunder, hail) storms. Like a knife, scythe, sickle, rake, which were also sometimes placed outside crossed, turned, like the axe, upwards with sharp ends facing the clouds...

This directly equates smiths (makers of sharp iron objects) with thunder gods. I talk about this link in detail in my post Goibniu...

In some parts of Serbia, fire tongs, fire pokers were also place in the yard pointing upward as a protection against (thunder, hail) storms. 

A blacksmith has to strike his anvil with his hammer on every Christmas morning before sunrise. If he doesn't do it, his hammer and anvil should be broken and he and his family should be expelled from the tribe (medieval Vasojevići tribe law cannon, Montenegro)...

Striking anvil with hammer produces sparks and sparks create fire. And Christmas Day is the day when the fire of the sun gets rekindled (the old winter solstice, the rebirth of the sun and solar year)...

This is what Yule log rituals are all about...

A toast to yule log, Dalmatia, 1893. South Slavs believed that yule log was the earthly seat of god,  addressed it with utmost respect and made sacrifices to it, during cutting, bringing in, burning...

I talked about this in my posts "Badnjak", about Yule log customs in the Balkans, "La buche de Noel", about Yule log customs in France and "Yule log in English tradition", about Yule log customs in England. 

BTW, you need an axe to cut a Yule log...

Everything indicates that the Yule log ceremonies are solar ceremonies. But why was Oak, the holy tree of Perun, The Thunder God, used as Badnyak (Yule Log)? 

To understand the link between the heart fire, yule log, thunder god and the sun, you need to check this out:

"It is a great secret how Svarog (heavenly and earthly fire) is at the same time Perun (thunder) and Svetovid (Sun)"...

Mathis (Matthias) Gerung, The Mighty Angel with the Little Book (Revelation 10), illuminated miniature on parchment in the Ottheinrich Bible, vol. 8, fol. 293r, c. 1530–1532 AD. Collection: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich...

Apparently, no one knows what this image really represents. I think it represents this:

Modern science has confirmed that it is indeed (heavenly) fire of the Sun which through Lightning descends to earth and becomes (earthly) Fire. I talked about this in my post "Sun Thunder Fire"...

So this is why the Yule Log is an Oak Log.

An Oak Yule Log (The Holy Tree of the Thunder Gods) is placed in the house hearth, the seat of the Earthly Fire on Christmas (Winter Solstice) eve to (symbolically) link it to the Sun's Fire...As long the Yule Log is burning, these two fires are (symbolically) connected and on Christmas (Winter Solstice) morning, the earth fire will (symbolically) ascend from the hearth to the sun and will restart the sun's fire...

BTW, this is how Ancient Greeks symbolically depicted the same thing:

"Hestia, you who tend the holy house of the lord Apollo...come now into this house...having one mind with Zeus the all-wise..." (Homeric Hymn To Hestia)...  

What does this mean? Sun (Apollo, Helios) creates Fire (Hestia) through lightning (Zeus)...

I talked about this in my post "Having one mind with Zeus"...

Back to sparks:

In Serbia, one of the most important part of the Yule log ceremony was the sparks divination performed by the first footer, the luck bringer...I talked about this in my post "First Footer"...

The First Footer repeatedly "strikes" the fire to produce sparks. After each strike, he exclaims:

As many sparks, as much luck!

As many sparks, as much love!

As many sparks, as much health!

As many sparks, as much money!

This "creation of sparks by striking burning Oak (the sacred tree of the thunder gods) Yule log" seems to me to be symbolic enactment of the creation of lightning by the thunder god...

This is why smith "creating sparks by striking hot iron with a hammer" has the same symbolic meaning and directly links smiths with thunder gods...

And this is why fire tongs, fire pokers are used for protection against thunder and lightning.

In some parts of Serbia a broom was thrown into the middle of the yard as a protection against (thunder, hail) storms.

I talked a lot about brooms and storms and witches (who rode on brooms and whose main sin, according to medieval witchcraft literature, was storm, bad weather, magic).

The broom pointing up looks very much like another rune, this time  Elder Futhark rune, Algiz...Which means "Protection"...From thunder and lightning?

Check theses two posts first, then follow links for more info: Walpurgis night, Donderbezem...

Finally, in some areas of Serbia, during the (thunder, hail) storms, a tripod was upturned in the yard with the legs pointing towards the sky...

This is very interesting...

Is this symbolic invocation of Triglav?

Acupuncture

Otzi the iceman is the natural mummy of a man who lived between 3350 and 3105 BC. 

He had tattoos on his skin which corresponded with acupuncture points which would be used today to treat his health problems...You can read more about this here...

Acupuncture developed from acupressure, using either hand or sharp pointed objects...Like these Ancient Chinese acupuncture / acupressure bone "needles". The acupuncture (acupressure with penetration of the skin) is much later invention...

The speculation is that the ancient healer marked the spots on Otzi's body and told him to apply acupressure when his problems got worse...

Other cultures where tattoos were interpreted as therapeutic/acupressure maps:

Pazyryk culture, Altai/Siberian region, Iron Age, c. 5th–3rd centuries BC 

Tattoos over joints and the lower back have been compared with therapeutic tattooing in other populations. You can read more about this in The Tattooed and the Social Environment: The Cultural Heritage of Tattooing: A Brief History.

Chiribaya culture, Southern Peru, approximately 1000 years ago 

Circular tattoos on a woman's neck may have had a therapeutic purpose because of their proximity to acupuncture points; ritual or protective purposes are also possible.  

You can read more about it in Different staining substances were used in decorative and therapeutic tattoos in a 1000-year-old Peruvian mummy

St. Lawrence Island Yupiget (Yupik), Alaska, historically documented 

Therapeutic tattoo punctures around joints were used against pain and ligament complaints; the practice has been compared to acupuncture. 

You can read more about this in Can Tattoos Be Medicinal

Unangan, (Aleut) Aleutian Islands, Alaska  

Joint tattooing has been documented as a preventive or treatment for bodily pain and arthritic complaints.  

You can read more about this in The Tattooed and the Social Environment: The Cultural Heritage of Tattooing: A Brief History.

Kayan Sarawak, Borneo 

Therapeutic tattoos placed around joints have been compared with Ötzi's tattoos in location and presumed function.

You can read more about this in The Tattooed and the Social Environment: The Cultural Heritage of Tattooing: A Brief History.

Vermilion tika

A "vermilion tika", a custom of applying vermilion powder on the forehead or in the hairline, primarily by married women in South Aian cultures, particularly in Nepal and India, is a tradition which originates in Harappan civilisation...

These figurines, showing visible traces of red paint on the hair partition line, were found in Harappa culture site Nausharo, prove that "vermilion tika" is part of the unbroken local tradition spanning over 4000 years...

BTW, vermillion is made from the powdered mineral cinnabar, a form of mercury sulfide...

Cinnabar was the second oldest thing ever mined. 

The first documented use of vermilion pigment, made with ground cinnabar, dates to 8000–7000 BC, and was found at the neolithic village of Catalhoyuk, in modern-day Turkey. I talked about this in my post Ore...

The oldest thing ever mined being another red pigment, "red ochre" which owed it's colour to large amounts of hematite, or dehydrated iron oxide...

The earliest evidence of its use by "Modern Humans" in Africa dates to 307,000 years ago.

The earliest evidence of its use by Neanderthals in Europe dates to 250,000 years ago...

Again, I talked about this in my post Ore...

I already talked about cultural continuity in Indian Subcontinent in many of my posts discussing animal calendar markers found in Hindu mythology. They show that the mythology had to have been developed locally in India...

Could it be that this is not a depiction of a male warrior but of a female warrior, a Warrior Goddess actually, a Proto Durga, the killer of the buffalo Asura who scared the Devas shitless? From my post Proto-Durga with the analysis of this 3rd mill BC Harappan tablet...

Human-Bull hybrid, Deity or a Priest wearing a bull skin and horns. I think animal calendar markers can help us figure out who is depicted on this Indus Valley civilisation seal from Mohenjo-Daro, dated to 2600-1900BC...Full analysis can be found in my post Human-bull hybrid...

Indian elephants mate during Indian monsoon season...

Which is why Indra, the thunder and rain god, rides on a white (cloud) elephant...Articles about elephant calendar marker, India: Musth, Samantabhadra, Modesty, Ganesha...

Varuna, the old Monsoon god, rides on a Makara, a mythical beaing which is a combination of many different animals, all linked to the monsoon rain season, including three different types of crocodiles which all breed during the monsoon rain season in India...

I talk about this in several of my posts: Makara, Yakshi, Proto Durga, Maruts...

7th c. Maruts relief, Sambor Prei Kuk, Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia.

From my post Maruts, about another proof that Rig Vedas had to have been written in India proper, proof discovered through applying animal calendar markers theory to one of the more obscure parts of the Marut's legends...

Agni was born (among gods, in the sky) bright like the sun and was moving in the night sky along with smoke. After that Maruts were born with great commotion holding shining spears. Then the Maruts stood surrounding Agni with their lights.

Maruts then came (to earth) along with Agni from above. They are visible at a distance shining like stars. They come down in thousands to earth together. They are shaped like drops and are bright like fires. They gleam like serpents as they approach the earth.

From my post Rudra, in which I talk about the fact that Perseid meteor shower coincides with the rain and thunderstor storm season in India...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...