Society of Saturn

Don't worry, we're not changing our blog focus or Patron! Tonight I've been musing on the company Saturn keeps, especially festival-wise.

All within the same week we have: Consualia, Saturnalia, Eponalia, Opalia, Divalia, and Larentalia.

Consus was the deity charged with the storage and protecting of the grain, particularly underground. Beasts of burden were given the day off. Actually, they were given the weekend off: a few days later was the Eponalia. here is an allegedly Gaulish Goddess of horses who was "transferred" into the Roman cult. The name might have been, but Demeter was worshiped as a horse Goddess in antiquity, especially in reference to Her relationship with Neptune with whom she had children. Demeter is also the Goddess of the grain, oft syncretized with Ceres. She was a daughter of Saturn and Ops and in addition to teaching humanity how to grow the stuff, She was also in charge of teaching humanity how to preserve and prepare it. 

Looks like we have a theme!

Opis  was the wife of Saturn, a cthonic Goddess- THE cthonic Goddess!

Quoth the holy wiki:

The Latin word ops means "riches, goods, abundance, gifts, munificence, plenty". The word is also related to opus, which means "work", particularly in the sense of "working the earth, ploughing, sowing". This activity was deemed sacred, and was often attended by religious rituals intended to obtain the good will of chthonic deities such as Ops and Consus. Ops is also related to the Sanskrit word ápnas ("goods, property").

I've seen her referred to as a Sabine Goddess but haven't yet found the source material. Wiki goes on to report that King Titus Tatius, a Sabine monarch, instituted Her cult.

I'm going to pause here and save the other festivals for a subsequent post and focus on the theme at play:

• Father who provides the seed and, as Time itself, makes it grow

• Mother who hosts the seed from whom abundance and riches spring

• Daughter who brings the grain to humanity and teaches its arts

• Son(?) who stores and protects it

Aside from the frantic frolicking of Saturnalia proper, this week is about surviving the Winter and having something to plant in the Spring, something to look forward to. Makes you wonder at the Saturnalia traditions; The frolicking fun was allegedly started to lift spirits after Rome was beaten by Carthage. Sounds similar to Lincoln instituting the Thanksgiving celebration we know today during the Civil War.


There are many references to Saturnalia on the internet, many quoting Macrobius' Saturnalia. I'm currently working my way through it in both Latin and the on line English translations. So far it's driving me crazy! There's an interesting passage on Janus, the Janiculum, and Saturn! I can't wait to delve into the relationship between these two!

If you'd like to check it out with me, take a gander starting right above p51. I've included the google translate link.

Io Saturnalia!

Fireworks!

There is some debate over who invented fireworks, China or India, but the Italians invented the art form. In another case of "use what works," Italians incorporated fireworks into their feasts and festivals the moment they were first introduced. Here's a fun story from Italy which includes the modern fireworks as a form of harvest divination:

In Tuscany, there's a fireworks display, lit from a fire which is lit from splinters of flint from the cave in which Jesus was alleged to have been buried. If the giant cart burns to the bottom, all is well, but if it fizzles out, the harvest is screwed, I tells ya! Talk about pressure! I bet that's more pressure than the Macy's folks with their harbor display!

Tonight I watched the D.C fireworks lighting up the mall and surrounding the Washington Monument. The display was so phallic in nature that I felt like I was intruding on a "private moment." Seriously, take a look! I had a moment tonight when I thought about George Washington as Osiris and the Washington Monument as his recreated phallus which is used to impregnate Liberty. I know, it sounds bizarre, but it works perfectly with the Isis/Osiris mythology. Osiris was killed and dismembered by Set and the 14 pieces were scattered. Isis collected all of the pieces, with the help of Nephthys, except for his phallus. So Isis created a new one. Looks like we created one right here in America.
All of this got me to thinking about "The Apotheosis of Washington."




In this painting, which makes up the ceiling of the capitol rotunda, George Washington is depicted as a god, along with Ceres, Columbia, Flora, Liberty, Mercury, Minerva, Neptune, and Vulcan.




I hate to say it, but Wiki does a pretty darn good job of not only describing the general scene, but also including each of the harder to see scenes with the Roman Gods! So I'm going to direct you there!

"The day will be most memorable in the history of America. I am apt to believe
that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary
festival…It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade…bonfires and
illuminations (fireworks) from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore." 

 

-John Adams on July 3, 1776, in a letter to his wife

The earth, the air, the fire, the water: Return, return, return, return...

A quickie post: Today has been one where tiny pieces have fallen into place making the entire picture that much clearer. It's been a day of epiphanies and gnosis. What else would you expect on the cross-quarter new moon Proserpinalia? \o/

I give a favorite image from the lesser Eleusinian Mysteries:





Mercury and Hekate and Ceres beginning Proserpina's return. Let's get on the road to Spring!

The day dawned dark and gray here, so I'm with the groundhog here in voting for Spring's immanent return! Maybe I'm just tired of the snow?