#and THEN remember the wolves in Norse myth that chase the sun and moon

[theghostwritesanddraws]

Sometimes, I think I really shouldn't talk with my twin about my stories while also talking about myths, things start getting complicated...

[jedimandalorian]

@mandojediblogger Your posts about Tolkien’s influence on the Filoniverse inspired this. @seleneisrising I thought you’d enjoy this too.

Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati are wargs.

Quote:

“In the philologist and fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fiction, a warg is a particularly large and evil kind of wolf that could be ridden by orcs. He derived the name and characteristics of his wargs by combining meanings and myths from Old Norse and Old English. In Norse mythology, a vargr (anglicised as warg) is a wolf, especially the wolf Fenrir that destroyed the god Odin in the battle of Ragnarök, and the wolves Sköll and Hati, Fenrir's children, who perpetually chase the Sun and Moon.”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warg

So who are Skoll and Hati chasing in Ahsoka?

Shin Hati is in conflict with Sabine Wren in the trailer, and Baylan Skoll seems to be Ahsoka’s foe in the footage we’ve seen so far.

Quote:

“In Norse mythology, Hati Hróðvitnisson (Old Norse: [ˈhɑte ˈhroːðˌwitnesˌson], first name meaning "He Who Hates", or "Enemy") is a warg; a wolf that, according to Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, chases Máni, the Moon, across the night sky, just as the wolf Sköll chases Sól, the Sun, during the day, until the time of Ragnarök, when they will swallow these heavenly bodies.”

Source:

Apparently Skoll chases the sun (Ahsoka) and Hati chases the moon (Sabine). So if they catch them does that mean that Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods, will begin?

“War is inevitable. One must destroy in order to create.” —Baylan Skoll in the Ahsoka trailer.

Dave Filoni likes to tell us what he’s been up to without really telling us. Remember the Rebels episode called “Wolves and a Door”?

Ahsoka may take us on a “new road” or along “hidden paths” by way of a “secret gate.”

[wyrd-gazer]

( hopefully you don't mind me answering with norse gods )

I worship Mani and Sol! I wouldn't say they're super unknown, and I've seen a few others around who worship them, but I really don't think they get enough attention!!

Sol or Sunna, and Mani. Their names mean 'sun' and 'moon' respectively.

Sol is the sun and Mani is the moon(what a surprise!). They are siblings, and their father is Mundilfari, however we know nothing else of him. In the Prose Edda, two children - Hjúki and Bil - follow Mani, but again we don't know much else about them, although Bil is listed as being a goddess along side Sol.

According to the myths, Sol and Mani pulled the sun and moon across the sky by chariot. They are pursued by two wolves; Sol being chased by Skoll (or sometimes Fenrir), and Mani being chased by Hati. At Ragnarok, the wolves would overtake and consume them.

I woke up one morning thinking 'I should worship Mani and Sol' and then I did haha. I think Mani may have been the first one I actually 'met' - he had the most calm and comforting presence. Sol wasn't long after, although I think it was very brief. Unfortunately I don't remember the context for our first meetings for either of them, it wasn't anything special I guess and at that point I didn't speak to them. I've been worshipping them since January.

I think we're still in the 'getting to know each other' phase, if that makes sense, so my experiences with them are a bit limited. However so far I can say that they are both very kind and caring but also very different from each other. I've always gotten the vibe that they care very much about people :)

Both have appeared to me before, although I couldn't describe them in detail. These are UPGs - Sol likes art and Mani likes music. Mani doesn't seem to actually like worship that much - I think he's very humble and doesn't really expect worship. Sol's a bit happier to have worship, though.

Most norse pagans seem to focus on a select few gods, or at least that's who I see others talking about the most, so I'm always eager to talk about Mani and Sol :)

I've also had experiences with Arawn, the welsh deity, who's also not talked about very much. However I didn't feel comfortable answering for him. (not that it was a bad experience or anything!)

Hello! 🌞

Another interactive post: Do you worship a currently “lesser-known” Divinity? Maybe someone we do not have much information on, someone with unclear origins and even less clear mythology? Someone who got merged with other Gods and had Their name changed, Their temples repurposed, Their rituals re-assigned to another Deity? Someone very local and specific? Note: I am talking about lesser known, but still somewhat documented Gods - not one’s private self-made Divinities.

If so, please tell me and others more about Them? Only if you’re comfortable, of course! Here are some questions I’d personally love to ask you:

What is Their name? Do They have one or many? Do They like nicknames? Do They have personal epithets you use?

What is Their “field” of power? Are They related to other Deities in the Pantheon?

What is Their mythology, if it is known?

How did you meet Them? What was it like? How long have you known each other?

Why did you decide to devote time and effort to worshipping Them?

What is your connection like?

Do They have preferred offerings or activities? How do They manifest to you, if ever?

Again, please only respond if you and They are comfortable enough.

No pressure.

I’m specifically interested in “lesser known” Gods of the Greco-Roman Pantheon, which is why I’m using these tags; but if your companion belongs to a different faith, feel free to join in :)

[katzkinder]

Some funny context for what started this huge rant ww

Uhhh basically I was thinking about Tsurugi and like. How he’s a composite of traits of both Fenrir and Baldr

Which led me to a few different routes

BECAUSE Tsurugi is Baldr, he could not be saved by Freya in canon, since Frigg (Now officially Baldr’s mother was Frigg but it’s actually thought by some that Frigg and Freya are the same goddess, just different aspects of her, because standard naming for a lot of these guys is... Nonexistant LMAO. imo there is enough similarity between the two to warrant this reading, with these similarities going so deep as for them to both possess a falcon feather cloak, are each associated with seidr and weaving related imagery, and they have husbands with almost identical names, with Freya’s husband being named Od and Frigg’s was Odin. And these aren’t even all of them, but if i listed those out, we’d be here all day lol. Even without that reading, though, having Freya’s name be “The Mother” is a very purposeful choice on Strike’s part to evoke that imagery of Frigg and Baldr) was unable to save Baldr, and the reason she was unable to save her son was because of the trickery of Loki

Loki is literally represented by Shuuhei thanks to the way Iduna initially misread his name since the Kanji for Tsuyuki, “露木,” can also be read as “Roki,” ”ロキ,”　which would be how a Japanese person would read Loki’s name, and it’s a nickname that stuck with him from then onward.

Metaphorically though, Loki is represented by Mikuni, who is the character who best embodies the mischievous and sometimes outright antagonistic relationship the god Loki has with the Aesir, as well as the fact that Loki is only an Aesir in name. Loki is actually a Jötunn, pronounced “Yo-tunn,” an ice giant from Norse Myth who are represented by the vampires within Servamp, being in direct conflict with C3, who represent the Aesir. Mikuni, too, is only C3 in name, and this argument is made stronger by the fact that it is the Alicein who provide the majority of C3′s funding, similar to the way that it is Loki to who provides the majority of the solutions to the problems the Aesir often find themselves in, even as he also often causes these problems to begin with. ... Again, much like Mikuni/the Alicein (since Lily is a Servamp, and therefore one of the “sources” of the difficulties C3 faces) |D

Another interesting thing is the etymology behind the name Loki. It’s been heavily debated, but the strongest argument appears to be that Loki’s name possibly originates from the Germanic root “Luk-,” which has to do with knots, loops, and ropes, and Mikuni’s Lead incorporates all of these things.

It was due to the both the revenge sought by Shuuhei against his “Odin,” Shamrock, and the schemes of the trickster Mikuni, that Freya’s path was turned from Tsurugi and towards Iduna! Loki in two different forms caused her to be unable to save her “son.”

Tsurugi and Gear’s relation is also intertwined with symbolic references to Odin, the first one we receive being that Tsurugi’s signature animal is not a wolf like you’d assume due to his name, but crows.

Odin had two wolves, yes, but he also had two ravens, which to the untrained eye look very similar to crows. These ravens would go out each morning and return at dusk, having collected wisdom for Odin.

—Which brings me what Tsurugi offered Freya

Now this is a nod to Odin that Tsurugi shares with Shamrock, that being: Odin’s missing eye. When Odin found the well Mimir (hi Johann), he could only drink from it and attain limitless wisdom if he gave something up in exchange, and the thing he gave up was one of his eyes. The most frequent eye Odin is depicted without is his right one, which Tsurugi, Shamrock, and even Inner Wrath, are each shown as either trying to offer in exchange for power (Tsurugi), missing (Shamrock), or obscured (Inner Wrath)

For Shamrock, this also is important, because his beef was with Shuuhei, “Loki,” Odin’s blood brother (fuck you marvel)

Okay back to Gear lol

Gear’s astrological clock is named after Odin’s throne, which I will not be tormenting myself currently by trying to remember the spelling of it, and upon this throne Odin would observe the goings about of all of the nine realms, with his loyal wolves and his ravens by his side.

Freki, the name of one of Odin’s loyal wolves, is also how Fenrir’s name is sometimes written, and Fenrir was the one… Who ultimately killed Odin during the battle of Ragnarök.

Another detail is that Gear’s family name, Hatiwelt, contains the name “Hati,” which was one of the two children of Fenrir, and I love this one in particular because Hati was one of the two wolves who chased the sun and the moon. We actually don’t know whether Hati chased the sun or the moon due to the fact that while in Western literature, the sun and moon are often male and female respectively, and the word used to describe the celestial body Hati chased was “bride,” the word for moon in old norse, Mani, was actually male.

Regardless of which Hati chased, both can be taken as a reference to Gear’s species as a werewolf, and wouldn’t it be cute if the woman Gear had a child with/passed his power to was named Mani?

[jdeo1997]

Sword and Shield were revealed, so now it’s time to try and figure out what the fuck the Boxart legendarily might be based off of

Excalibur and Pridwen

Yeah, these are the obvious ones. Excalibur, as I imagine most of us know, is the sword of King Arthur (actually, one of the swords, but we’re not here to discuss that) that he got from the Lady of the Lake (despite strange women lying in ponds distributing swords being no basis for a system of government), or the sword in the stone. Meanwhile, Pridwen is his shield. Theoretically, this is almost certainly some part in the unseen box art legend’s origins, and also opens up a third version to be Spear after Rhongomiant... or Knife after Carnwennan. Somehow I doubt that last one. Could also be staff after Merlin’s staff, but IDK.

Geri and Freki

So, that explains the idea of Sword and Shield being... well, Sword and Shield, but that raises the question of what the wolf heads are supposed to mean. One idea I thought of is it being based off of Geri and Freki, two wolves that accompany Odin and pretty much eat and drink everything but the wine Odin lives off of. Alternativly, in a kenning about Viðrir (or Vidrir for those that can’t find that odd symbol or don’t want to copy-paste like I did), one of Odin’s many other names, where they were said to be greedy for the corpses of those that fell in battle (remember, Odin is also at least partially a death god). Coincidentally, Geri and Freki both mean either "the ravenous one” or “the greedy one” in ye olde norse.

Sköll and Hati

Alternativly, they could be based off Sköll and Hati Hróðvitnisson, two children of Fenrir/Fenris that chased the sun goddess Sól (Sköll) and the moon god Máni (Hati) across the sky until Ragnarok when they are eaten. Fun stuff.

Of note, while the UK isn’t a Nordic country, I wouldn’t rule out the possibilities of Gerri and Freki/Sköll and Hati, because of the historic Norman Conquests, the possible Norse influences on Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde (Kalos is France, and iirc France much less influenced by Norse cultures then England at the very least (not compleatly sure about Scotland and Wales. As for the influences, Xerneas=Eikþyrnir and the four stags Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór [the stags on Yggdrassil] along with the Celtic god Cernunnos, Yveltal=Hræsvelgr, Veðrfölnir, and the Celtic goddess the Morrigan and Zygarde= across it’s various forms, Níðhöggr, Loki’s children Fenrir, Jörmungandr, and Hel, Garmr, tsuchinoko the Japanese Cryptid behind Dunsparce, and nāga from South Asia). Also, considering how Hoenn (Kyushu) has it’s boxart legendaries possibly inspired by Jewish myth (Kyogre=Leviathan Groudon=Behemoth, and Rayquaza=Ziz), Platinum (Sinnoh, which is Hokkaido) has one of it’s boxart legendaries partially based off Abrahmic (mostly seems to be Christian and Judaic) myth (while Dialga and Plakia=Izanami and Izanagi, Giratina=Fallen angels [like Lucifer], Archangel Samael from the Talmund, the beasts from Revelations, and the centipede Seta from the Japanese fairytale My Lord Bag of Rice), Unova (New York [really Long Island] and part of New Jersey]) has boxart legendaries inspired by Taoism (Reshiram=Yang, Zekrom=Yin, Kyurem=Wuji, with Reshiram and Zekrom possibly also having some Zoroastrian mixed in [with Rehsiram being Ahura Mazda and Zekrom being Angra Mainyu]), and Alola (Hawaii) has legendaries that draw from various non-Hawaiian sources (Solgaleo=Alchemical Lion and maybe the eye of Ra, Lunala=the Aztec goddess Itzpapalotl, the Mayan god Camazotz, the Samoan goddess Leutogi, and the mythological eight-eyed Pe'a-pe'a-makawalu from Hawaii, and Necrozma=alongside prisism and eclipses, Bulbapedia mentions it [well, Ultra Necrozma] could be based off of the Hawaiian goddess Kihawahine), I don’t think the origins being from another real=life region would mean much, and at least the UK would have some ties to Norse Myth. That’s better then every one of the aforementioned boxart legendary sans Lunala and Necrozma. And more then my next guess, unless you count the romans

Laelaps and the Teumessian Fox, zìxīang máodùn, and the Irresistible Forces Paradox

My other guess is from Greek Myth, which iirc is actually not really represented that much among Pokemon Legendaries. Could be wrong, though. Anyhow (to copypaste from Discord), the Teumessian fox was a giant-ass fox that was destined to never be caught that was sent by Dionysus to terrorize Thebes because of a national crime, which I'm assuming is really just Dionysus being a dick. Anyhow, someone got the idea to use the dog Laelaps, who was maybe a gift from Zeus to Europa and was said to catch whatever she was hunting. This lead to a paradox of if the dog that always catches what she was hunting could catch the fox hat could never be caught, which Zeus thought on too much, got confused and pissed at, and turned them into the constellations Canis Major (Laelaps) and Canis Minor (Teumessian fox). This could be the origin, could fit in with Excalibur and Pridwen, and also more. One is the Chinese idiom zìxīang máodùn, which (going off of wikipedia, so please correct me) means “ from each-other spear shield“ and self-contradiction, due to it being based off of a tale of a merchant selling a spear that could pierce and shield, and a shield that could block any spear. When asked what would happen if the two collided, he responded with silence. Both of these are Irresistible Force Paradoxes, where two opposing unstopable forces are placed against each other, and could be the origin, due to the weapon and armor of the titles (even though it’s a sword, not a spear) and the canine heads (maybe the shield head is actually a fox?)

All of this is just guesswork, however, and won’t be known until we see the Boxart legends

Edit: forgot to mention originally, but the Excalibur and Pridwen idea was mentioned by someone the TVtropes forums, and the Laelaps and Teumessian fox part was inspired by a comment on Gnoggin's video.

[equinoxparanormal]

5 Mythic Eclipse Monsters Who Mess With the Sun and Moon

From cosmic serpents to demon warriors, these creatures have been blamed for celestial mayhem.

Armed with a little science, modern humans can relish in the celestial mechanics of an eclipse without fearing the end times—but it wasn’t always that way.

Before we recognized the moon’s potential to block out the sun and vanish into Earth’s shadow, we sought answers from the gods. Without a full understanding of planetary motion and celestial alignment, we attributed the disruption of solar and lunar cycles to cosmic monsters.

While it’s tempting to interpret such tales as purely explanatory, the relationship between natural phenomena and myth isn’t always so clear. We often don’t know to what extent ancient cultures created stories to explain eclipses or saw their existing myths reflected in the movements of sun and moon. Certainly, generations of tradition allowed mythology to evolve and fulfill various cultural purposes.

Global eclipse mythology features a rogues’ gallery of moon thieves and moon-hungry behemoths. Meet a few of them now, and remember their audacity the next time you gaze up at an eclipse.

Apep the Moon Serpent

Ancient Egypt

Many solar eclipse myths revolve around the duality of light and darkness, good and evil. As you might imagine, that puts a rather nefarious spin on the sudden obstruction of the midday sun. Thus, Ancient Egyptian cosmology gives us Apep, the cosmic world serpent.

Apep (or Apophis) embodies chaos and death, making the monster a natural adversary for the sun god Ra. The serpent pursues Ra pulls the burning sundisc across the sky, lighting the world. Every so often, Apep nearly consumes the sundisc, resulting in an eclipse. Luckily, Ra and the defenders aboard his sky barge always manage to fight free of the serpent’s shadowy coils.

Rahu the Beheaded Asura

Hinduism

Few eclipse myths can match the horror of Hinduism’s Rahu. Originally known as Svarbhānu, the wrathful demigod sought to live forever by drinking Amrita, the nectar of immortality. Lord Vishnu wouldn’t stand for this, however, and decapitated Svarbhānu, before the liquid could pass down his throat. The decapitated head became the undying Rahu.

Divine comeuppance left Rahu with something of a chip on his shoulder—and also with no shoulders. Consumed by rage, he continually seeks revenge on the sun and moon for informing Vishnu about his nectar theft. Rahu chases sun and moon across the heavens relentlessly—and occasionally catches them. But since Rahu is but a floating head, his victory is always temporary. After he swallows the sun or moon, either orb simply falls out of Rahu’s neck stump and continues its journey.

The Sebettu

Ancient Mesopotamia

The plague god Erra brought doom to Ancient Mesopotamia, and the Sebettu marched in his wake. The offspring of the sky deity An, these seven demon warriors spread sickness and death—and occasionally gathered in the sky to blot out the moon.

The epic Erra and Išum, written in the East Semitic language of Akkadian sometime around the eighth century BC, describes the seven warriors as so deadly that their “breath of life is death.” It also relates that Erra mainly likes to let them loose on earth “when the clamor of human habitations becomes noisome.”

The Sebettu might seem rather casual eclipse monsters, but their moon-blotting ways may have served a royal purpose. The Assyrians saw eclipses as dire omens, and particular lunar eclipses amounted to divine condemnation of the king. At times, this required the ritual death of a substitute king or šar puhi, who perished in the king’s place. Historian John Z. Wee speculates that the Sebettu may have functioned as a way of absolving the moon-associated king of guilt. Why stage an elaborate sacrifice when you can simply tweak religion to cast yourself as a victim of intermittent demons?

Sköll and Hati

Norse Mythology

When something dreadful happens in Norse mythology, you can safely assume Loki had something to do with it. The trickster god managed to father the ultimate world-consuming serpent, the queen of the underworld and a god-slaying giant wolf. That wolf, Fenrir, spawned the eventual doom of both sun and moon in the lupine duo Sköll and Hati. Yes, everything Loki touches turns to Ragnarök.

Sköll doesn’t get to gobble up the sun ‘til the end times arrive—and when he finally sinks his teeth in, the light of the world extinguishes in his grim belly. Meanwhile, Hati eats the moon. Stephen Hawking described the wolves as eclipse monsters in The Grand Design and many other publications follow suit, but not everyone’s convinced. Some commentators, such as skeptic Eve Siebert, argue that the often-cited Old Norse poem Grímnismál merely points to a dark eventuality and not recurrent events. Still, it’s possible the Norse saw these tales of doom reflected in eclipses, or even considered them near misses in an eternal race between light and all-consuming dark.

The Peri

Ancient Persia

Even sun-blotting monsters aren’t above redemption—and the Peri of Ancient Persia prove that sufficient cultural change can erase all cosmic wrongs.

Back in the 6th century B.C., the Peri were small, winged humanoids in pre-Zoroastrian Persian traditions. Like other “fairy” folk in global myth, their relationship with humans ranged from casual benevolence to mischievous destruction. According to folk historian Carol Rose, they might help you out of a tough spot, ruin your crops or darken the sun.

The Peri continued in this role for more than a millennium, until Islamic culture rewrote them as repentant fallen angels. Later tales described their penance as complete and by the end of the first millennium, they even appear in the epic poem Shahnamehas loyal servants to earthly kings.

[Robert Lamb, Atlas Obscura]

[what-even-is-thiss]

The Four Seasons, The Beginning.

Hey. What’s up? How’s your day? My day is fine, I guess. I wrote a story I thought I did terribly with and it got over 100 notes in less than 12 hours. So, since everybody seemed to like that first one, which you should probably read before reading this one, so here it is, I decided to write an origins story. Now, keep in mind that Norse mythology is full of weird and questionable birth and creation stories, so if this seems weird know that it was on purpose. Also, a little bit of education about the Norse creation myth in here. I love teaching people about myths oooooh. *repressed giggle of delight*

Anyways, I hope its just the right amount of weird.

Tip Jar

Warnings: This is supposed to be a Norse mythology birth/creation story, so there’s death, blood, wolves, some gross things, and some moments that just make you go, “Huh?” 2,391 words

Abstract: How the four seasons came to be. A continuation of the Sanders Sides Norse mythology/seasons au, and part of the actual Norse creation myth as told by me, but the story is bent a bit.

“You can read the little book if you promise not to tell any of the gods. We’ve managed to keep this from them for thousands of years and it is still hilarious. They have no idea who we are,”

“I still say we have no reason to...”

“Shut up Winter. Nobody asked you,”

“Also, it’s super embarrassing. We can’t tell them,”

“And the way we were born is more embarrassing than being licked into existence by a cow? Seriously Autumn, I still don’t understand you,”

“Whatever, Summer. When Spring gets back for the night I’m totally setting him on you, and go ahead and read it, human. I didn’t go through all the trouble to track down a mortal competent enough to write it for nothing,”

“They have a name, Autumn!”

“Oh, go to Hel and ask the dead if I give a damn. Even they know that I don’t,”

In the beginning, there was Muspelheim, the primordial fire, and Niflheim, the first ice. Between them was Ginnungagap, the absolute nothingness.

Over countless years, the ice and fire came to meet in the nothingness and there came into existence a giant named Ymir.

Odin, Vili, and Ve were sons of one of the first gods, who was descended from the first god, and the first god was licked out of the ice of Niflheim by a primordial cow, and was called Buri.

Buri’s grandsons Odin, Vili, and Ve, killed the giant Ymir in a battle that lasted for days. Once he was dead, they set to work making a world from his remains.

The giant’s body became the Earth, and his blood poured out and became the oceans, lakes, and rivers. The gods formed mountains from his bones, and rocks and pebbles from his teeth. His skull was lifted above the earth and became the sky.

During this time, the world tree Yggdrasil continued to grow to connect all things. It placed one of it’s roots in the newly formed Earth that the gods were creating. The tree knew all things, and it knows that where there is a beginning there is an end, and where there is an end there is a beginning, and so it dropped a piece of itself into the newly formed world.

The cutting of the tree fell down, down a mountain and was taken away by a torrent of blood as the newly dead giant was still settling, and his blood was still flowing out in torrents.

The cutting took hold of the barren ground and took root in defiance against the river. It soaked in the water at a frightening speed and grew so quickly that it made cracking noises as it grew.

It grew into a hundred foot tall ash tree with four parts to it. One quarter of the top was barren without leaves, another was covered in baby leaves, green and small. Another part of the tree was covered in full, dark green leaves, and the one next to it was yellow and brown.

Soon, the moon Mani was chased into the sky by the wolf Hati and fled for his life across the night sky. As soon as he went over the horizon, his sister Sol, the sun, was chased into the sky by the wolf Skoll.

As soon as her light fell upon the barren landscape, the tree lit up, mimicking her light. A pair of hands punched through the bark of the tree and clawed and pulled and pounded with such urgency and force that within a minute of appearing, a man fell out of the tree, fully formed.

As he gasped and breathed in his first air and wiped the sap from his eyes, the hole closed behind him. He looked down to see that he was clothed, and was confused by this. The newly born god then looked to the sky, which still dripping slowly with blood, and the sun lighting it up, and he knew what he was.

He picked himself up and took a few shaky steps, and then he walked and then ran, and in his wake sprung up fully formed bushes, flowers, and grass. He ran across the land and touched the dead trees formed from the giant Ymir’s hair, and they immediately sprung into full green leaves.

The young god took hold of the wind like it was the string of a kite and followed it across the land. He fell and tumbled and ran, and his hearty deep laugh echoed across the land, heating the air and bringing warm rain.

When Odin and his kinsmen returned to check on the world they had created, they were astonished. They had expected it to take centuries for life to begin, but there were live trees, and crops, and plants and animals of every type covering the landscape, and it stayed like this for several years.

Every night, Summer returned to the ash tree. He grew tired and lonely, but saw the gods as beneath him. They only ever thought of themselves. He forgot in his years of waiting why he had gone to the ash tree in the first place.

One day as he returned, the moon was straight overhead when he heard a crack. Summer jumped and looked back at the tree he spent every night sleeping against. There was a crack appearing below the yellow section of the tree.

Two hands wedged their way through the crack from the inside and pulled. With a mighty jerk the tree was torn open, and out fell an exhausted man dressed in brown and black.

Summer ran to him and lifted the stranger’s head as the hole in the tree closed behind him.

“Why do you look like me? Who are you?” he demanded.

“I was just born and already you are interrogating me,” the new god said, already tired. “You know who I am. The tree told you so,”

Summer remembered and groaned. “No. I do not want to stop this! You will have to catch me!”

Summer ran off into the night, and despite how new and confused he was, Fall knew his purpose and chased his brother off into the darkness.

Just as the dawn began to break, Autumn caught up with summer and tackled him. He got the sticky tree sap stuck all over the other god as they wrestled on the ground. Despite how angry Summer was, he couldn’t help laughing. Fighting with him was fun, and they were now covered in grass and dirt, but neither of them particularly cared.

Then suddenly Autumn pulled his older brother behind a bush and said to be quiet. Summer peeked through the bush and saw several Aesir gods, Odin among them, gathered around a tree.

“What are those?” Fall asked, nervous. “You are more than a day old. What are they?”

“They are the Aesir gods of Asgard,” Summer whispered. “They don’t have to see us unless we want them to, do not worry. But what are they doing?”

The gods were carving at two old tree logs that had washed up on the ocean shore. They were becoming more and more person shaped.

“They’re making people out of trees,” Autumn noted.

“We came out of a tree,” Summer said.

“Yes, I know that. You are really obvious. Are we sure I am the one that was born last night?”

Summer rolled his eyes. “Oh, stop your talking and just go do your job. You caught me fair and square,”

Autumn didn’t have to be told twice. He took a slow careful walk along the earth, slowly starting the trees on their way to resting. With his touch, grass began dying. Animals began scurrying to store food for a later day.

Summer ran the winds like a current, letting himself be swept along with them like a moving tide. Autumn walked in the wind, taking it slowly and painting cold into it like an artist with a brush.

In time, the world was covered in red and yellow and brown. There was a cold nip in the air, and it stayed like that. For years, the world felt like it was on the edge of something. Something that wouldn’t come.

Summer soon realized he couldn’t stand the cold. He began building a long hall, and during the nights when he slept, his brother continued to work on the house. The younger one seemed to never sleep, or if he did it was short and fitful, like his dreams were laced with nightmares. So, he worked.

One night they were sitting by the tree. Fall was cleaning a skin and his brother was sharpening a knife.

“When do you suppose the others will come through?” Summer asked.

Just them, they heard a crinkling. Then a pop. Then a flick, and Autumn got hit in the face with a piece of tree bark. When they both looked over, they noticed that for a while someone had been systematically picking off small bits of bark and throwing them away. They stared dumbstruck for a minute until the hole was big enough for the person inside to neatly step through.

The new season straightened out his sap covered clothes and took in a deep breath. “Oh, that is better. It was difficult to breathe in there. So this is the world. Fascinating,”

“I can’t stand you already,” Fall said.

“I realize I just came out, but I do believe from what I know that your statement could be considered rude,”

“Just do your job. I don’t care,” Autumn said in a huff.

“Very well. Will you help me?”

Fall stood up and started walking away. Winter followed him, asking about how he was supposed to clean all of the sap of of himself. Summer sighed and continued sharpening his knife. He was going to get so bored over the next few months. He found himself vaguely wondering what was going to happen to the humans.

The humans were just fine, it turned out. As Autumn caused all of the leaves to finish falling and went home, and Winter tried his hand at making snowflakes, they adapted and learned to stay warm.

Winter grew fond of the humans as he went through the world, sometimes quickly and sometimes slow. He threw his creations to the winds and watched them swirl and cover the ground with white. The humans seemed so smart, and they appreciated the beauty of the snow while also hating it. It was a beautiful paradox and he loved it.

Every night Winter came back to their home and gave his apologies to his brothers, because he didn’t have the power to stop this. None of them were ever alone for too long anymore, but they had no way to make the world ready for Summer.

Summer had originally thought that he could just make the world warm again, but that didn’t happen. The first time he had come out of the tree he had simply willed the warmth and life to come, but now that didn’t work. He had been without the warmth of the sun for so long. Fall went outside sometimes and enjoyed the cold and admired Winter’s handiwork (though he’d never admit he liked it) but Summer just couldn’t. He fell into a deep sadness that was difficult to hide from the others.

After a couple years of this, Winter was preparing to leave at dawn and Fall was seeing him off. Summer came out to watch the sun rise in a dim hope it would be warm. Then, they heard a crack.

They all looked at their tree. Their huge ash tree that they had all come out of. It was cracking. There was light coming out of the cracks.

In a burst of light, the tree fell apart. Splinters, branches, and bits of bark flew everywhere. They all covered their heads as everything fell around them in a shower of ash tree.

When they looked up, there was a face nearly identical to their own, smiling with the sweet dawn bursting up behind him.

He was tired and new and confused, and he stumbled forward into Winter’s arms and leaned there, getting sap all over his older brother.

“Hi,” he mumbled through his tiredness, “sorry I’m late,”

Summer laughed for the first time since he had run from Fall almost nine years before and pulled the new season into his arms with a dramatic and crushing hug.

Winter smiled despite himself as he wiped the tree sap off of his neck and even the edge of Autumn’s mouth twitched upward a little. Spring was here. They were all here. They were all home.

Once Spring had woken up and washed off, he got to work right away. He ran through the world like an excited child, making flowers pop out of the snow and calling all of the animals to wake up.

He loved the humans and thought they were adorable. He often invisibly watched their children playing and laughed right along with him.

He warmed the breeze and brought rain and flowers wherever he stepped. The grass came back to life in a lively way, and the trees grew flowers and tiny green buds that quickly grew into leaves.

And one morning, to his delight, Summer was woken up by the youngest of them who eagerly pulled him outside. Soon the summer sun beat down on the earth and warm breezes cut through the nights.

And every year it has followed this way, with the seasons switching off the same way they always did.

“Hello! I’m back! Oh, is there a mortal here? How exciting!”

“Oh, he’s baaack. Hey Spring! Summer wants to ask you about your flowers!”

“Autumn , no. I didn’t think you’d actually...”

“Oh, he does? Come on!”

“I’m gonna go watch this. It should be fun,”

“So, Winter? You all came out of a tree?”

“Yes we did. But then again, so did humans,”

“And you don’t tell the gods any of this because watching them frustrated is fun for you?”

“Well, that is the reason the others give. Fall claims he is embarrassed, but I don’t believe that is the real reason,”

“Then what’s the real reason?”

“Nobody knows. He never tells us anything. It’s quite annoying,”

[lisaraessleepingbeauty]

Week 4 Solar Goddess & Eclipse -

Thinking more about the concept of the Solar being a traditionally male energy I decided to investigate if their is any evidence of Solar Goddesses in ancient mythology. In the first of an extreme amount of coincidences I discovered that the Ancient Norwegian’s believed that the Sun was female and she was called SOL the name I had chosen for this project last semester because of it’s links to the name of the 5th in the musical scale and I new it was a word for the Sun. It’s interesting that Sol is pronounced ‘Soul’ linking the star to the spiritual essence of the 

In Norse mythology Sol and her brother Mani  ( the moon) are relentlessly pursued by the evil wolf Skol ( Mockery) and  Hati( Hate) at the behest of the God of Chaos Loki. When they overtake the chariots of the Sol and Mani the world falls into the chaos of Raganok. Thus is expressed a the dualism of Norse belief that the forces of chaos and destruction and balance and order are in a constant dance.  Not much is known about these Goddess much like a lot of the ancient goddess worship I’ve been uncovering as part of the research underlying this project

There is evidence in a lot of the myths surrounding Solar goddess that their solar kinship was ‘stolen’ by the incoming patriarchal kingship. The Djanaddawul Sisters  of the mythology of the peoples of Arnehem Land were daughters of the sun that created the animals and plants but had their magic stolen by their brothers  the Alaskan Goddess Akycha was a beautiful girl  who was raped and fleet to the Heavens.

http://www.goddess-guide.com/sun-goddesses.html

 There is significant evidence that the Gorgan Medusa was originally worshipped as a sun goddess in Anatolia and Snakes have often been considered embolic of the sun particularly in Egyptian mythology. I also remember when I took Ancient Civilisations in my Arts degree the lecturer discussing how the tree and serpent in Genesis she believed were allegories for the ancient goddess religion and its evils

https://sites.google.com/site/phsmendozaaparthistory/general-information-for-art-history/isthesnakegoddessreallyanearlymanifestationofthegreekmedusafigure

The Ancient Minoans of Crete was a matriarchal society that also appeared to worship a solar goddess, an ancient form of the Greek Demeter as their main diety which is evidenced in the architecture of the archaeological ruins and its orientation built in relation to the solar and lunar calendars found on Crete and the continual use of solar motifs on pottery found on the island and in their temples.-

Evidence of Minoan astronomy and Calendrical Practices - Marriana Riddrstad

I was thinking about how this related to last weeks thoughts about The Maleficent Archetype . That a Goddess like Medusa can also be associated with the energies of the dark moon and the sun simultaneously links to the idea of totality and also the goddess wounding linked to the denial of her part in the solar birthright. Also its worth considering Maleficent as an agent of fate that her evil act pushes the story forward and leads to the happy ever after of true love conquering all the great cycle of wolf chasing the sun

https://goddessinspired.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/medusa-the-libyan-dark-moon-serpent-goddess/

"The Wolves Pursuing Sol and Mani" (1909) by J. C. Dollman.

http://mythology.net/norse/norse-gods/sol/

antefix with head of Gorgona. Fasos island (?), 4 c. BC. Pushkin museum

notice again the solar motifs in the shape of the head.