ORIGIN Nordic (Icelandic) or Germanic. Fertility and vegetation goddess.
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP Viking period (circa AD 700) and earlier, until after Christianization (circa AD 1100).
SYNONYMS Gefn (giver); Mardoll; Syr (sow); Horn; Skialf; possibly Thorgerda in some parts of the north.
Attendant gods. Mayan (classical Mesoamerican) [Mexico]. Four deities identified with points of the compass and colors, thus Hobnil (red) resides in the east, Can Tzicnal (white) in the north, Zac Cimi (black) in the west and Hozanek (yellow) in the south. They are also identified as the Toliloch (opossum actors) in the Codex Dresden, where each carries the image of the ruling god for the incoming year on his back. Hobnil is also a patron deity of beekeepers.
by Daphne Elliott
Before recorded Time, (c. 900 BCE) but during an active migration era of prehistoric Greece (c. 10,000 BCE), a people came into the Pelaponnesus, presumably from the north, and settled around the eastern Mediterranian coast and its islands, Sicily, Lamapadusa etc. They were called “Pelasgians,” which has several specific meanings, depending on which translation one might be reading.
by Daniel A. Kelin, II
A big snake living in the waters between Mili atoll in the Marshall Islands and Kiribati. The snake is as big as an island house, long and black. The end of the snake faces Mili and the tail faces Kiribati. It is said if you get lost when sailing, you enter the snake. You get confused, without being able to see stars or feel the waves. Spending one or two days inside, you get scared, try to run away and turn yourself around from south to north. Then you will spend another day or two inside. Finally you die from hunger and thirst. It is said that if you do end up inside, look for the Kaböj bird named Lokto. When the bird sees your canoe, it will fly away. Follow it because it will show you where you entered the snake. If an experienced island navigator enters it, they chant:
Thunderstorm echoes, speaking stories across the earth..
Neath the oaks secret lovers sip golden summer wine..
Beltaine moon rises, shining silver in the evening sky..
In the circle, vibrant, firelit, the lady waits.
DreamSinger sings the songs of old, the dancers spiral turning..
Earth and water, fire and air.. on the altar candles burning.
East then South, West and North, the corner wards are called.
Raise the cup and drink…salute to she who waits..
We who stand on the edge of wonder, ask and do invoke..
Into the circle enter, enter.. love and trust your oath.
The scent of incense fills the night, carries whispers on the wind..
The horned lord bidden, here the lady waits..
Mysteries are spoken, souls and hearts, our will be done…
Passions inflamed are given reign.. freed from earthly bounds.
Renewal, fulfillment, as above.. so below.. and blessed be.
Under the beltaine moon… The lady waits no more..
North-May 1
South-November 1
Beltane, or Beltaine, is the celebration of two powers joining to bring creation, in this case, the Goddess and the God. The two form a sacred union, from which comes creation, growth and harmony. The God, now grown, becomes enraptured with the Goddess and from their love, all of nature grows and flowers.
(Pronounced Loo-Naa-Saa)
Saxon- LAMMAS
(Meaning Loaf mass)
North-August 1
South-February 1
Alby Stone
According to the medieval Icelandic poet Snaebjorn, as quoted by Snorri Sturluson in the Skaldskaparmal section of his Prose Edda, ‘nine skerry-brides turn fast the most hostile island-box-mill out beyond the land’s edge’. This mill (eyludr) is cognate with mills mentioned or hinted at in other Icelandic texts – the poems Grottasongr and Vafthrudhnismal from the Poetic Edda; and Snorri’s own Gylfaginning – and closely related to the mill-like Sampo described in the Finnish traditions preserved in the Kalevala. These mills, sources of wealth and abundance, are cosmic structures; they are models of and metaphors for the world itself. The essential image is that of the rotary quern, comprising a flat, unmoving lower millstone and an upper stone revolved by turning a handle. The lower stone represents the earth as perceived by early cosmologists: a flat, immobile disc. The upper stone represents the sky, which is seen as revolving about the celestial axis in the far north. The imagery is extended by the English abbot lfric in his Homilies, composed in the last decade of the tenth century. He incorporates the paddles used to power early vertical water-mills, so that the earth and sky are augmented by the underworld, giving a tripartite division of the cosmos, in accordance with other, pagan cosmological patterns.
Witch's Well 