#pagan Poland

[theancientgod]

Slavic myths about the creation of the world

The World Tree

The Slavic World Tree is an oak, a sacred tree that is incredibly important throughout Slavic mythology. At its roots is Nawia, the realm of the dead/underworld. Here, the god Weles (Veles) dwells. The trunk of the tree is Jawia, the realm of the living. And among the branches is Prawia, the realm of the gods, ruled by the thunder god, Perun.

It used to be at the beginning of the world –

Then there was no sky or earth,

No sky nor earth but the blue sea,

And in the middle of the sea on oak

Two pigeons were sitting.

Two pigeons on an oak tree

They held such a council,

Happy debated and cooed:

How can we create the world?

We will fall to the bottom of the sea,

We'll bring out the fine sand

Fine sand, blue stone.

We will sow fine sand,

We will pick up the blue pebble.

From fine sand - black earth,

- icey water, green grass.

From the blue stone - the blue sky,

Blue sky, bright sun,

Bright sun, bright moon,

bright moon and all the stars

Białobóg I Czarnobóg

In the beginning, there was nothing but the sky, the sea, the God (Białobóg) who sailed by boat and the devil (Czarnobóg) emerging from the sea foam, who sat down to God. The idea of creating the Earth was suggested to God by the devil, who could not do it by himself alone. The devil immersed himself and brought out a handful of sand from the bottom. God threw it on the water and created the beginning of the Earth so thin that they both barely fit on it. God and the devil inhabited the Earth, the devil thought to push the sleeping God into the water, but he contributed to the expansion of the land from the side of God, from the east and from his own side, from the west. Both creators started a dispute that ended up with God going to heaven and knocking down the devil, who also went there, by lightning into the abyss.

The Cosmic Egg

Rod created the magical golden egg. The crust broke and out of the egg left Svarog, Lada and Chernabog. Svarog married Lada and then fell asleep. During his dreams, he saw the entire world, the perfection of it, its beauty and he didn't want to wake up. His wife desperately wanted him to open his eyes again so she gave birth to everything he dreamt of. While she was doing that, Chernabog silently watched. He grew envious of Svarog's beautiful world to be and he sat out to destroy it. But then Svarog woke up and threw him away.

He then stood marveling the perfection of the world. He decided to come to the centre of the world where he found the white stone Alatir. He decided to turn it into his forge. He created more weapons to fight Chernabog if he was to return.

And, oh, he was. But now as a dragon with hundreds of heads and an iron tail. Svarog couldn't fight him alone so he forged more gods to help him. The first one was Dazhbog, the god of Sun. Then Stribog the god of wind. And finally, Semargl, the god - dog of fire.

Combined together, the powerful gods defeated dragon Chernabog and used him as a bull. Namely, Svarog forged a plow and the gods made Chernabog pull it. The large canyon he made was the border that separated the world. The world where gods live is Prav and the dark realm of Chernabog is Nav. The only thing that connects them is Kalinov bridge which will later be used by souls who passed away.

The gods decided to move up and live in the Sky. So they made Lada give birth to a magical Oak, the world tree. Oak's branches were holding the sky, its trunk became Yav, the visible world and its roots grew down to Nav enabling evil things to climb up to Earth and Heaven just to fight gods in desperate need to continue the mission of Chernabog.

[temple-of-perunika]

Everytime a slavic mythical creature/deity is watered down as "Russian folklore", a babushka spills her kompot...

[haveyouheardthisband]

[springsteens]

POLUDNITSA (LADY MIDDAY)

🌾 Poludnitsa (from: Polden or Poluden, 'half-day' or 'midday') is a mythical character common to the various Slavic countries of Eastern Europe. She is referred to as Południca in Polish, Полудница (Poludnitsa) in Serbian, Bulgarian and Russian, Polednice in Czech, Poludnica in Slovak, Připołdnica in Upper Sorbian, and Полознича (Poloznicha) in Komi, Chirtel Ma in Yiddish.

🌾 She is a noon demon in Slavic mythology. She can be referred to in English as "Lady Midday", "Noonwraith" or "Noon Witch". She was usually pictured as a young woman dressed in white that roamed field bounds. She assailed folk working at noon causing heatstrokes and aches in the neck, sometimes she even caused madness.

🌾 In some accounts, she symbolizes the midday star, thereby being the sister of Zarya-Zarenitsa (the morning star; also called Utrenica), Vechorka (the evening star; also called Wieczornica/Vechernitsa) and Kupalnitsa (the night star; also called Nocnica/Nochnitsa); Poludnitsa is the second youngest among the sisters, with Zarya-Zarenitsa being the youngest and Kupalnitsa being the oldest.

🌾 Poludnitsa, who makes herself evident in the middle of hot summer days, takes the form of whirling dust clouds and carries a scythe, sickle or shears; most likely the shears would be of an older style, not akin to modern scissors. She will stop people in the field to ask them difficult questions or engage them in conversation. If anyone fails to answer a question or tries to change the subject, she will cut off their head or strike them with illness. She may appear as an old hag, a beautiful woman, or a 12-year-old girl, and she was useful in scaring children away from valuable crops. She is only seen on the hottest part of the day and is a personification of a sun-stroke.

🌾 Poludnitsa, according to beliefs, loves to dance. If she sees a girl lying down to rest in the field, she will wake her up and begin to persuade her to dance. If the girl agrees, she will be forced to dance until the “evening dawn“. Poludnitsa cannot be beaten in dancing; however, if such a girl is found, the noon spirit will present her with a rich dowry.

[jezzzebel]

SLAVIC PAGANISM VIBES

Perun feels like when an uncle asks you to go to his house to escape a bad environment.

Rod feels like a family gathering with cousins you haven't seen in years.

Veles feels like a friend that is silly most of the time but sometimes is very serious.

Morana feels like when an aunt is backing you up in an argument with your mother.

Mokosh feels like covering yourself with a blanket in your babushka's old house.

Vesna feels like finding a unique flower in a field and admiring its beauty.

Baba Yaga feels like that one friend who is cold or mean, but just wants the best for you and isn't afraid to criticize your wrongs for your own growth.

Dajbog feels like walking into sunlight after sleeping for 10 hours and feeling slight headache and warmth.

Stribog feels like dipping your legs in a clean river stream as a child, and seeing the same river now polluted, years later.

Triglav feels like standing up for your friends and getting hurt, but still not regretting it.

LIKE FOR PART TWO PLS ❣️❣️❤️❤️

[angie-massei]

Ngl it’s kinda funny to see hetalian discourse about Poland, Lithuania and christianity, because it’s somehow always like this - Poland christianizes, everyone is happy and cool with that and IMMEDIATELY BECOME EXTREMELY RELIGIOUS and then this poor lithuanian pagan boy straight from the woods is forced to go to church ;<

[zarya-zaryanitsa]

Foundation offerings

A foundation offering is a magic practice known since antiquity, performed during the the construction of new residential buildings, but also the of sacred or defensive buildings, roads and bridges. The foundation offering (pl. zakładzina) should ensure the well-being of the users and residents of the building and strengthen the building’s durability by giving it the life of a living being. In his monograph about archaeological excavations in Opole (Poland), Hołubowicz writes that a textual account known as Rudolf’s Catalogue of Magic mentions the practice of foundation offerings in medieval Silesia. He also interprets the bowls found under foundations of houses or inside them as possible sacrifices or foundation offerings for households spirits. Also pisanki – traditionally painted or decorated eggs were found there – they were made from chicken eggshells as well as of limestone and “of size and form corresponding to chicken eggs”. The most expensive and splendid ones were made of clay and ornamented with colourful toppings. Hołubowicz adds that eggs and crushed eggshells were found at Ostrówek in Opole within houses and also in the eastern corners of houses.

Foundation offerings of horses were placed under corners of houses of Slavs and Balts. Findings from Novgorod (10th–14th century), Opole (12th century) and Szczecin seem to confirm this. According to Szafrański, sacrifices of this type were also placed under ramparts, for example in Biskupin (8th–9th century), Gdańsk (12th century), Santok (12th–13th century). Those rites were supported by many folk beliefs about apotropaic qualities of the horse and they can be observed in Christmas mock rituals, costumes and requisites of mummers. The findings of horse skulls are also known from Kalisz, Wolin, Gniezno and Czeladź Wielka.

- Sacrifices among the Slavs: Between Archeological Evidence and 19th Century Folklore by Izabella Wenska

[pol-ski]

Slavic Wedding photoshoot, Poland

[wintersnightt]

Wawel castle & hill, Kraków, Poland

[profanacja-war-black-metal-horde]

Venedae – Venedae (1998), Poland 🇵🇱

[theancientgod]

@creations4magic on Instagram does it again! Arrival of Poland’s founder Lech in Gniezno. Lech przybywający do Gniezna!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tony Ryder Art (@creations4magic)

[temple-of-perunika]

Bigger, more popular cultures around the world are cool.

But you, you are special to me 🇷🇺🇧🇾🇺🇦🇷🇸🇭🇷🇧🇦🇲🇪🇲🇰🇧🇬🇸🇮🇸🇰🇨🇿🇸🇰!!!

[haveyouheardthisband]

[springsteens]

SLAVIC VAMPIRES

• modern Polish — upiór, upir, wąpierz, wupi • Czech and Slovak — upír • Ukrainian — упир (upyr) • Russian — упырь (upyr') • Belarusian — упыр (upyr) • Old East Slavic — упирь (upir')

A demonic being from Slavic folklore, a prototype of the vampire.

🦇 The term upiór was introduced to the English-language culture as a "vampyre", mentioned by Lord Byron in “The Giaour“ in 1813, described by John William Polidori in "The Vampyre" in 1819, and popularised by Bram Stoker's “Dracula”. With the development of mass culture, he returned as a "vampire" recognizable in literature and film.

🦇 Slavic belief indicates a stark distinction between soul and body. The soul is not considered to be perishable. The Slavs believed that upon death the soul would go out of the body and wander about its neighbourhood and workplace for 40 days before moving on to an eternal afterlife. Thus pagan Slavs considered it necessary to leave a window or door open in the house for the soul to pass through at its leisure. During this time the soul was believed to have the capability of re-entering the corpse of the deceased. Much like the spirits mentioned earlier, the passing soul could either bless or wreak havoc on its family and neighbours during its 40 days of passing. Upon an individual's death, much stress was placed on proper burial rites to ensure the soul's purity and peace as it separated from the body. The death of an unbaptized child, a violent or an untimely death, or the death of a grievous sinner (such as a sorcerer or murderer) were all grounds for a soul to become unclean after death. A soul could also be made unclean if its body were not given a proper burial. Alternatively, a body not given a proper burial could be susceptible to possession by other unclean souls and spirits. Slavs feared unclean souls because of their potential for taking vengeance.

🦇 From these deep beliefs pertaining to death and the soul derives the invention of the Slavic concept of Ubır. A vampire is the manifestation of an unclean spirit possessing a decomposing body. This undead creature needs the blood of the living to sustain its body's existence and is considered to be vengeful and jealous towards the living. Although this concept of vampire exists in slightly different forms throughout Slavic countries and some of their non-Slavic neighbours, it is possible to trace the development of vampire belief to Slavic spiritualism preceding Christianity in Slavic regions.

🦇 An upiór was a person cursed before death, a person who died suddenly, or someone whose corpse was desecrated. Other origins included a dead person over whom an animal jumped, suicide victims, witches, unchristened children, and those who were killed by another upiór.

🦇 Slavic vampires were able to appear as butterflies, echoing an earlier belief of the butterfly symbolizing a departed soul. Some traditions spoke of "living vampires" or "people with two souls", a kind of witch capable of leaving its body and engaging in harmful and vampiric activity while sleeping.

[jezzzebel]

Prayer to Dazhbog for the Summer Solstice

(yes i am a little late...)

Dazhbog, god of the Sun, the one who gives us prosperity and life itself, please hear my humble prayer. May the Summer Solstice bring me abundance and love. Svarozhich , please, may the rays of your Sun shine over me at all times. As i feel safe when i feel your warmth.

Glory to Dazhbog, the one who gives, the son of Svarog.

[thecraftwitchrachel]

A domovoi, which can be spelled domovoj or domovoy, is a house spirit in pre-Christian Slavic mythology, a being who lives in the hearth or behind the stove of a Slavic home and protects the inhabitants from harm. Attested from the sixth century CE, the domovoi sometimes appears as an old man or woman, and sometimes as a pig, bird, calf, or cat.

In Slavic mythology, all peasant houses have a domovoi, who is the soul of one (or all) of the deceased members of the family, making the domovoi part of ancestor worship traditions. The domovoi lives in the hearth or behind the stove and householders took care to not disturb the smoldering remains of a fire to keep their ancestors from falling through the grate.

My personal practice includes working with my hearth spirit as I tend to dabble in Kitchen Witchery. I keep a small gnome figurine on my stove as a representation of my apartments Domovoi. I keep it secured with a bit of museum wax which is necessary for all over my apartment because my black cat, Vlad likes to knock things over.

Slavic Chronicles writes that "the domovoi tries to take good care of pets – if a cat gets too noisy during the night, that means it is playing with the home domovoy". I have two cats, Greta and Vlad and Greta's favorite spot is by the stove so I like to think she is keeping our Domovoy company or vice versa. I try to keep my apartment up to our Domovoy's standards but as someone who struggles with depression that leads to some executive dysfunction, chores often are the first thing to be ignored when I'm "down bad". So when my depression finally lessens, I do cleanings and cleansings along with giving my Domovoy an offering as an apology. I work with other ancestral energies, so I like to think that my spirits are understanding that keeping my home in this state isn't a sign of disrespect so they don't act out, which I am grateful for.

Britanica and Madame Pamita gave me the idea of when I moved into my new apartment to make sure I did something to invite my ancestral Domovoy from my previous apartment to my new one. So after getting my new keys and checking out the apartment, I did a smoke cleanse of mugwart and rosemary, said a small 'prayer' in my previous apartment inviting my Domovoy to my new apartment and when in my new apartment I cleaned my stove and brought my gnome figurine and put it on my stove and welcomed the spirit to it's new home.