Whip it! Whip it good!

Flogging: It's not just for kinksters. This "risque" practice finds its roots in ancient practice. Honestly, what doesn't. I'm sure I could pull out an analogy for the ancient version of the ipod. But I digress! Flogging! Ritual pain! How did it begin? Who knows. I assume it The first person who took a bad fall had a spiritual experience that everyone has been trying to recreate since.

Enough with the (bad) jokes! Here's a bit of history:

Ritual flogging happens as part of many ancient Pagan festival throughout the year including Lupercalia and Thargelia.

The Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii depicts flogging on one of its walls.

Greek playwright Menander's quote became famous in its day: "A man who has not been flogged is not trained."

From The gymnasium of virtue: education & culture in ancient Sparta  By Nigel M. Kennell:

"Laconians used to whip themselves in an initiation ritual"

At the biennial festival of Dionysus celebrated in Arcadia, called the Skiereia, women were flogged. This was allegedly in response to an oracle given at Delphi.

At the Feast of Artemis Orthia, Spartans would whip each other in a contest to see who was the last one standing.

What's the point of this? Sacrifice? Punishment? According to several sources, it was a form of purification. It resolved guilt, shame, and was the debt paid for past transgressions.  "A good beating purifies the mind"

What I find especially interesting is that in almost all of the examples I have come across,  the whipping, or purification, is done at the behest or under the auspices of Apollo. Apollon Lykaios is another form of Lupercus as per the above mentioned Lupercalia. The Thargelia is a celebration of His birthday.


I'm pausing here. I know, just after a very tiny introduction! I've been reading Kerenyi's Apollo: The Wind, the Spirit, and the God in my search for more information on Apollo as the God of Purification. I adore Kerenyi's work and highly recommend you read along with me!


More tomorrow!

The Pagan Origins of Birthday Celebrations!

Here are a few excerpts from an interesting looking book on the Pagan origins of birthday celebrations, called The Lore of Birthdays by Ralph Linton.

Originally the idea was rooted in magic. The working of spells for good and evil is the chief usage of witchcraft. One is especially susceptible to such spells on his birthday, as one's personal spirits are about at that time. Dreams dreamed on the birthday eve should be remembered, for they are predictions of the future brought by the guardian spirits which hover over one's bed on the birthday eve.

The traditional birthday cake and candles also have their origin in ancient Pagan idol worship. The ancients believed that the fire of candles had magical properties. They offered prayers and made wishes to be carried to the gods on the flames of the candles. Thus we still have the widely practiced birthday custom of making a wish, then blowing out the candles.

The Greeks celebrated the birthday of their moon Goddess, Artemis, with cakes adorned with lighted candles.

Since it was believed that the positions of the stars at the time of birth influenced a child's future, astrological horoscopes came into being, purporting to foretell the future, based on the time of birth. 'Birthdays are intimately linked with the stars, since without the calendar, no one could tell when to celebrate his birthday. They are also indebted to the stars in another way, for in early days the chief importance of birthday records was to enable the astrologers to chart horoscopes.

The Greeks believed that everyone had a protective spirit or daemon who attended his birth and watched over him in life. This spirit had a mystic relation with the god on whose birthday the individual was born. The Romans also subscribed to this idea.

This notion was carried down in human belief and is reflected in the guardian angel, the fairy godmother and the patron saint.

I've also seen mention made of gifts for the birthday celebrant likened to sacrifices and offerings given to deities.



I suppose, instead of christians asking if it's appropriate to celebrate a birthday in a Pagan way, Pagans should be asking: Should we celebrate a personal birthday in the same way we celebrate our Gods? Are we engaging in hubris and elevating ourselves to the status of deity? Are we celebrating the divine spark within and therefore it is justified?


I'm obviously cool with celebrating a personal birthday, so I pick the later ;)

Libya

Tonight's blog isn't a political rant or treatise on the astrological implications behind the protests there and the occupy wall street movement here. Libya has just plain been calling to me.

Tanit has been on my mind. So has Jupiter. So has Alexander the Great. I've been pondering an in-depth post on each of these, but the research has been taking a while. Some things are just in-depth. Seeking the connection between the three has been of interest to me as well. My family lineage traces back to Carthage and Leptis Magna, as well as from other areas in Libya. I don't write this blog just to present research papers or book reports, the point is to sit and do the work. Recent posts have been very light lately because I haven't wanted to post about the aforementioned topics because I didn't have enough under my proverbial belt to do it. Some of it is just private. I do, however, want to share what's been on my mind:

Alexander the Great's mother claimed that his real father was Zeus and came to her as a snake. While he was heading around and about conquering the world, he paused at Siwa Oasis, a spot in ancient Libya (now modern Egypt) where there happened to be an oracle dedicated to Ammon. Ammon was nearly identical to Jupiter and Zeus and syncretized nicely. When Alexander asked the oracle if Zeus was his dad, he got what he took as a yes and allegedly considered himself divine thereafter. I'm working my way through two books about Alexander the Great and the founding of Alexandria in Egypt. I'll get back to you as further developments warrant!

Over the years, my relationship with Jupiter has been... well, it hasn't really been. I don't work with him and I know that's because I was burned out on that as a catholic. The Ponifex Maximus, the most important religious position in the religion of ancient Rome, was eventually subsumed by the emperor. The title is still used today for the pope. So is the political side of the title. Vatican City is its own country. But I digress! I was burned out on dealing with a father-figure. I tip a nod during general libations, but that has been the extent of our relationship for a long time... until recently. It's been interesting and when I understand it a bit better I hope to fill you in.

I found a few well put together articles about Tanit on line, but searching books hasn't yielded much. Much of what I have is my family lore.

Tanit, or Tanith, is the Great Goddess of Carthage, worshipped there as its chief Deity. She is a Sky Goddess who ruled over the Sun, Stars, and Moon; and as a Mother Goddess She was invoked for fertility. The palm tree is Hers, as the desert version of the Tree of Life; and as symbolic of the life-force of the Earth the serpent is Hers as well—in fact Her name means "Serpent Lady". She is identified with both Ashtart (Astarte) and Athirat and Her other symbols include the dove, grapes and the pomegranate (both symbolic of fruitfulness and fertility), the crescent moon, and, like Ashtart, the lion.

She was the "Lady of Carthage" and her consort is Ba'al and syncretizes nicely with so many different Goddesses:

She was identified with Aphrodite, Demeter, and Artemis by the Greeks and with Juno by the Romans, especially their Juno Lucina, Goddess of Light and Childbirth. The Romans also associated Her with the Magna Mater, the Great Mother, Rhea or Kybele.

Her symbol looks like the Isian knot!